mermaid#Alamoa

File:Leighton-The Fisherman and the Syren-c. 1856-1858.jpg, c. 1856–1858]]

The English word "mermaid" has its earliest-known attestation in Middle English (Chaucer, Nun's Priest's Tale, c. 1390). The compound word is formed from "{{linktext|mere}}" (sea), and "{{linktext|maid}}".{{cite web|title= Mermaid |publisher=Oxford |work = Dictionaries | url = http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/mermaid?q=mermaid | archive-url = https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20181120055042/https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/mermaid | url-status = dead | archive-date = 20 November 2018 | access-date= 16 April 2012}}{{OED|mermaid}}; Murray, James A. H. ed. (1908) A New Eng. Dict. VI, s.v."[https://books.google.com/books?id=M6ojAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA360 mermaid]"

{{hatnote|See § Scandinavian folklore for the modern Danish {{lang|da|{{linktext|havfrue}}}}, modern Swedish {{lang|sv|hafsfru}}, etc.}}

Another English word "†mermin" ({{linktext|headword}} in the OED) for 'siren or mermaid' is older, though now obsolete.{{OED|mermin}}; Murray, James A. H. ed. (1908) A New Eng. Dict. VI, s.v."[https://books.google.com/books?id=M6ojAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA361 mermin]" It derives from Old English {{lang|ang|męremęnen}}, ad. {{lang|ang|męre}} 'sea' + {{lang|ang|męnen}} 'female slave', earliest attestation {{lang|ang|mereminne}}, as a gloss for "siren", in Corpus Glossary (c. 725).

A Middle English example {{lang|enm|mereman}} in a bestiary (c. 1220?; manuscript now dated to 1275–1300) is indeed a 'mermaid', part maiden, part fish-like.{{Refn|name="MEBestiary"}}{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|And despite the misleading spelling not a variant of "{{linktext|merman}}" (first used seventeenh century)}}

Its Old High German cognate {{lang|goh|merimenni}}{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|The word occurs variously as OHG {{lang|goh|merimenni, merimeⁿi, meriminni, meriminnun, meriminna, merminno}}.{{sfnp|Pakis|2010|p=126, n40}} Schade's dictionary uses OHG "{{lang|goh|meremanni}}" as headword.}} is known from biblical glosses{{sfnp|Pakis|2010|p=126, n40}}{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|They are glosses to sirenes at Isiah 13:21 where Hebrew ya'anah ({{lang|hbo|יִעֲנָה}}), mod. Eng. bibl. tr. "ostriches" was translated as sirens by the Septuagint and Vulgate.{{sfnp|Pakis|2010|p=126, n40}}}} and Physiologus.{{Refn|name="Vienna-ONB-223"}}

The Middle High German cognate {{lang|gmh|merminne}}, (mod. German "{{lang|de|meerweib}}"), "mermaid", is attested in epics,Lexer (1872) Mittelhochdeutsches Handwörterbuch, s.v. "[https://woerterbuchnetz.de/?sigle=Lexer&lemid=LM01525#1 mer-minne]" and the one in Rabenschlacht is a great-grandmother of Wittich;{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|She is Wâchilt, whose great-grandson ({{langx|de|Urenkel}}) is Wittich. In other words she is Velent/Wieland's grandmother. or "Wittich's father's father's mother", in the Dietrich Cycle.}} this same figure appears in an Old Swedish text a {{lang|mis|haffru}},{{Refn|Þiðreks saga or "Dietrich's saga". But the great-grandmother's involvement is only known from the Swedish version (Swedish epilogue{{sfnp|Paff|1959|p=129}}), from the fifteenth century Swedish reworking.}}{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|She is deemed an '{{linktext|undine}}' by one modern commentator.{{sfnp|Paff|1959|p=129}}}} and in Old Norse a {{lang|non|{{linktext|sjó|kona}}}} (siókona [sic.]; "sea-woman").{{Refn|Earlier portion of the Old Norse Þiðreks saga.}}

Old Norse {{lang|non|marmennill, -dill}}, masculine noun, is also listed as cognate to "†mermin", as well as ON {{lang|non|margmelli}}, modern Icelandic {{lang|is|marbendill}}, and modern Norwegian marmæle.

Old English {{lang|ang|męrewif}} is another related term, and appears once in reference not so much to a mermaid but a certain sea hag,Bosworth-Toller (1882), s.v. "[https://books.google.com/books?id=oXlii1KgDngC&pg=PA680 mere-wíf]"Beowulf, Klaeber ed. (2008) [1936]. [https://books.google.com/books?id=8ek3p6ILv8wC&pg=PA52&q=merewif v. 1519] and not well-attested later.{{efn|That is, the OED's entry for gave "cf. OE {{lang|ang|męrewif}} and {{smallcaps|Mermin}} [in small capitals]", meaning there is an entry for the latter but not the former.}}

Its MHG cognate {{lang|gmh|merwîp}}, also defined as "{{lang|de|meerweib}}" in modern German with perhaps "{{linktext|merwoman}}"{{OED|merwoman}}; Murray, James A. H. ed. (1908) A New Eng. Dict. VI, s.v."[https://books.google.com/books?id=M6ojAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA365 merwoman]", "name for the mermaid when older or wedded". a valid English definition.{{Refn|As "merwoman" is used for {{lang|gmh|merwîp}}, e.g., at {{harvp|Grimm|Stallybrass tr.|1883|p=490}} re the Nibelungenlied example.}} The word is attested, among other medieval epics, in the Nibelungenlied,Lexer (1872) Mittelhochdeutsches Handwörterbuch, s.v. "[https://woerterbuchnetz.de/?sigle=Lexer&lemid=LM01525#0 mer-wîp]" and rendered "merwoman",{{sfnp|Grimm|Stallybrass tr.|1883|p=490}} "mermaid", "water sprite", or other terms; the two in the story are translated as ON {{lang|non|{{linktext|sjó|konur}}}} ("sea-women").

The siren of Ancient Greek mythology became conflated with mermaids during the medieval period. Some European Romance languages still use cognate terms for siren to denote the mermaid, e.g., French {{lang|fr|{{linktext|sirène}}}} and Spanish and Italian {{wikt-lang|es|sirena|sirena}}.{{cite book |last1=Mittman |first1=Asa Simon |title=The Ashgate research companion to monsters and the monstrous |last2=Dendle |first2=Peter J |publisher=Routledge |year=2016 |isbn=9781351894326 |location=London |page=352 |oclc=1021205658}}

Some commentators have sought to trace origins further back into § Ancient Middle Eastern mythology.

In the early Greek period, the sirens were conceived of as human-headed birds,{{sfnp|Holford-Strevens|2006|pp=17–18}}Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica IV, 891–919. Seaton, R. C. ed., tr. (2012), [https://books.google.com/books?id=ipANAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA354 p. 354ff]. "and at that time they were fashioned in part like birds and in part like maidens to behold". but by the classical period, the Greeks sporadically depicted the siren as part fish in art.{{harvp|Milliken|2014|p=125}}, citing {{harvp|Benwell|Waugh|1965}}; {{harvp|Waugh|1960|p=}}{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|The Megarian bowl, third century BC, with a scene from the Odyssey, with sirens depicted as fish-tailed "tritonesses". Harrison names a clay lamp, possibly from the Roman period.{{harvp|Benwell|Waugh|1965|p=46}} and Fig. 3a A terracotta "mourning siren", 250 BC, is the oldest representation of siren as mermaid familiar to Waugh.{{sfnp|Waugh|1960|p=77}}}}

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| image1 = Bern Cod.318, f.013v-de natura serenae et honocentauris.jpg

| alt1 = Siren and onocentaur, Bern Physiologus

| caption1 = Siren and onocentaur.{{right|{{small|―Bern Physiologus. Berner Burgerbibliothek, Cod. 281, fol. 13v}}{{Refn|name="Bern"}}}}

| image2 = BL-Add 11283, fo.020v-siren.jpg

| alt2 = Siren in a Second Family bestiary, Additional manuscript

| caption2 = Siren in a Second Family bestiary{{right|{{small|―British Library MS Add. 11283, fol. 20v.}}}}

| image3 = Bodleian-Library-MS-Bodl-764 00070 fol-074v-sirene.jpg

| alt3 = Sirens swimming, in Bodleian bestiary

| caption3 = Sirens swimming in sea.{{right|{{small|―Bestiary (Bodl. 764), fol. 74v
© Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford}}}}

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The siren's part-fish appearance became increasingly popular during the Middle Ages. The traits of the classical sirens, such as using their beautiful song as a lure as told by Homer, have often been transferred to mermaids.{{sfnp|Waugh|1960|pp=78–79}}

This change of the medieval siren from bird to fish were thought by some to be the influence of Germanic myth, later expounded in literary legends of Lorelei and Undine; though a dissenting comment is that parallels are not limited to Teutonic culture.{{sfnp|Mustard|1908|p=22}}

The earliest text describing the siren as fish-tailed occurs in the Liber Monstrorum de diversis generibus (seventh to mid-eighth century), which described sirens as "sea girls" ({{lang|la|{{linktext|marinae |pullae}}}}) whose beauty in form and sweet song allure seafarers, but beneath the human head and torso, have the scaly tail-end of a fish with which they can navigate the sea.{{Refn|{{harvp|Faral|1953}}, pp. 441ff., cited by McCulloch (1962) [1960], p. 167.}}{{Refn|{{harvp|Pakis|2010|p=137 and n89}};{{harvp|Holford-Strevens|2006|p=29}} (both quote from the Orchard (2003) translation.).}}

"Sirens are mermaids" (Old High German/Early {{langx|gmh|Sirêne sínt méremanniu}}) is explicit in the aforementioned Old German Physiologus (eleventh century).{{Refn|name="Vienna-ONB-223"|Vienna, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek ms. 223, fol. 32r. Maurer (1967) ed.Der altdeutsche Physiologus [note 37], 92, apud {{harvp|Pakis|2010|p=126, n37}}. (olim MS Philol. 244), von der Hagen, F.H. (1824) ed., {{URL|1=https://books.google.com/books?id=U9UGAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA52|2=pp. 52–53}}.}}{{Refn|{{harvp|Pakis|2010|p=126}}, note 39 gives "Siręne sint meremanniu" citing Maurer ed. (1967), the Titus Project transcription is verifiable against the image of the manuscript, fol. 32r.}}{{efn|But upon reflection, since the OHG word only means "sea-woman", it is not assured that a fish-tailed being is meant.}}

The Middle English bestiary (mid-13th century) clearly means "mermaid" when it explains the siren to be a mereman,{{harvp|Pakis|2010|pp=126–127}}, note 42, though the remark is shorthanded, stating that the "same word" as the Old High German term is used. stating that she has a body and breast like that of a maiden but joined, at the navel, by a body part which is definitely fish, with fins growing out of her.{{Refn|name="MEBestiary"|British Library Arundel MS 292, fol. 8 verso}}{{harvp|Armistead tr.|2001}} vv, 391–462, pp. 85–86

Old French verse bestiaries (e.g. Philipp de Thaun's version, written c. 1121–1139) also accommodated by stating that a part of the siren may be bird or fish.{{sfnp|Holford-Strevens|2006|p=34}}

In a ninth-century Physiologus manufactured in France (Fig., top left),{{Refn|name="Bern"|The Bern Physiologus. fol. 13v. Rubric: "De natura serena et honocentauri". Produced c. 830, Hautvillers Abbey near Reims, France.}} the siren was illustrated as a "woman-fish", i.e., mermaid-like, despite being described as bird-like in the text.

The Bodleian bestiary dated 1220–12 also pictures a group of fish-tailed mermaid-like sirens (Fig. bottom), contradicting its text which likens it to a winged fowl ({{lang|la|volatilis habet figuram}}) down to their feet.{{Refn|Oxford, MS Bodley 764, fol. 74v.{{sfnp|Hardwick|2011|p=92}}{{harvp|Holford-Strevens|2006|pp=31–32}}, Fig. 1.4}}

In the interim, the siren as pure mermaid was becoming commonplace, particularly in the so-called "Second Family" Latin bestiaries, as represented in one of the early manuscripts classified into this group (Additional manuscript 11283, c. 1170–1180s. Fig., top right).

While the siren holding a fish was a commonplace theme, the siren in bestiaries were also sometimes depicted holding the comb,{{sfnp|George|Yapp|1991|p=99}}{{Refn|Cf. three sirens with two holding fish and third a mirror, as in Getty MS. 100 ({{linktext|olim}} Alnwick ms.)}} or the mirror.{{Refn|British Library Ms. Royal 2.B.Vii, fol. 96v.{{sfnp|George|Yapp|1991|p=99}}}}

The comb and mirror became a persistent symbol of the siren-mermaid.{{sfnp|Holford-Strevens|2006|p=36}}

In the Christian moralizing context (e.g the bestiaries), the mermaid's mirror and comb were held as the symbol of vanity.{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|In the bestiaries. And that is generally accepted to be the intended symbolism in ecclesiastical art, such as church carvings of mermaids,{{sfnp|Waugh|1960|p=77}} but this church view has been derided as misogynistic from a modern perspective,{{sfnp|Bacchilega|Brown|2019|p=xiv}} and it has been noted that the mirror and comb were originally the accoutrements of the love goddess Venus in Classical Times.{{sfnp|Wood|2018|p=68}}Warner, Marina From the Beast to the Blonde, p. 406 apud {{harvp|Fraser|2017}}, Chapter 1. {{URL|1=https://books.google.com/books?id=EP-WDgAAQBAJ&lpg=PT16|2=§ Prehistory: Mermaids in the West}}: "comb and mirror.. probably inherited from the goddess of love, Aphrodite".}}

The sea-monsters Scylla and Charybdis, who lived near the sirens, were also female and had some fishlike attributes. Though Scylla's violence is contrasted with the sirens' seductive ways by certain classical writers,Xenophon, citing Socrates possibly spuriously, apud {{harvp|Holford-Strevens|2006|p=22}} Scylla and Charybdis lived near the sirens' domain.{{sfnp|Holford-Strevens|2006|p=29}}{{efn|In The Odyssey, after Odysseus' encounter with the sirens, he headed for the place where Scylla and Charybdis dwelled.{{sfnp|Holford-Strevens|2006|pp=20}}}} In Etruscan art before the sixth century BC, Scylla was portrayed as a mermaid-like creature with two tails.{{sfnp|Holford-Strevens|2006|p=29}} This may be tied to images of two-tailed mermaids ranging from ancient times to modern depictions, and is sometimes attached to the later character of Melusine.{{Refn|Bain (2017), citing Terry Pearson and Françoise Clier-Colombani.}}{{Cite journal |last=Allison |first=Sarah |date=2023 |title=Melusine and the Starbucks' Siren: Art, Mermaids, and the Tangled Origins of a Coffee Chain Logo |journal=Shima |volume=17 |issue=1 |pages=280–288 |doi=10.21463/shima.190 |s2cid=258306641|doi-access=free }} A sporadic example of sirens as mermaids (tritonesses) in Early Greek art (third century BC), can be explained as the contamination of the siren myth with Scylla and Charybdis.

The female Oceanids, Nereids and Naiads are mythical water nymphs, although they were generally depicted without fish tails. "Nereid" and "nymph" have also been applied to actual mermaid-like marine creatures purported to exist, from Pliny (cf. §Roman Lusitania and Gaul) and onwards. Jane Ellen Harrison (1882) has speculated that the mermaids or tritonesses of Greek and Roman mythology may have been brought from the Middle East, possibly transmitted by Phoenician mariners.

The Greek god Triton had two fish tails instead of legs, and later became pluralized as a group. The prophetic sea deity Glaucus was also depicted with a fish tail and sometimes with fins for arms.

Depictions of entities with the upper bodies of humans and the tails of fish appear in Mesopotamian artwork from the Old Babylonian Period onwards, on cylinder seals. These figures are usually mermen (kulullû), but mermaids do occasionally appear. The name for the mermaid figure may have been *kuliltu, meaning "fish-woman". Such figures were used in Neo-Assyrian art as protective figures and were shown in both monumental sculpture and in small, protective figurines.

{{main|Atargatis}}

File:DemetriusIIICoin.png depicted as a fish with a woman's head, on a coin of Demetrius III]]

A mermaid-like goddess, identified by Greek and Roman writers as Derceto or Atargatis, was worshipped at Ashkelon. In a myth recounted by Diodorus Siculus in the first century BC, Derceto gave birth to a child from an affair. Ashamed, she abandoned the child in the desert and drowned herself in a lake, only to be transformed into a human-headed fish. The child, Semiramis, was fed by doves and survived to become a queen.

In the second century, Lucian described seeing a Phoenician statue of Derceto with the upper body of a woman and the tail of a fish. He noted the contrast with the grand statue located at her Holy City (Hierapolis Bambyce), which appeared entirely human.{{Refn|Lucian. De Dea Syria 14. Lightfoot ed., tr. (2003). Cited and translation quoted by {{harvp|Hasan-Rokem|2014|p=182}}.}}De Dea Syra, 14 apud {{harvp|Cowper|1865|pp=9–10}}

In the myth, Semiramis's first husband is named Onnes. Some scholars have compared this to the earlier Mesopotamian myth of Oannes,{{sfnp|Smith, W. Robertson|1887|p=313–314}} one of the apkallu or seven sages described as fish-men in cuneiform texts.{{Refn|Oannes was later described by the Babylonian writer Berossus as having an extra human head beneath the head of its fish body.{{sfnp|Waugh|1960|p=73}}}} While Oannes was a servant of the water deity Ea, having gained wisdom from the god, English writer Arthur Waugh understood Oannes to be equivalent to Ea,{{harvp|Waugh|1960|p=73}}: "the first merman in recorded history is the sea-god Ea, or in Greek, Oannes", and proposed that surely "Oannes had a fish-tailed wife" and descendants,{{sfnp|Waugh|1960|pp=73–74}} with Atargatis being one deity thus descended, "through the mists of time".{{sfnp|Waugh|1960|pp=73–74}}

Diodorus's chronology of Queen Semiramis resembles the feats of Alexander the Great (campaigns to India, etc.), and Diodorus may have woven the Macedonian king's material via some unnamed source. There is a mermaid legend attached to Alexander the Great's sister, but this is of post-medieval vintage (see below).

{{further|#Reported sightings|#Hoaxes and show exhibitions|#Scientific inquiry}}

Sometime before 546 BC, Milesian philosopher Anaximander postulated that mankind had sprung from an aquatic animal species, a theory that is sometimes called the Aquatic Ape Theory. He thought that humans, who begin life with prolonged infancy, could not have survived otherwise.{{cite web |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Anaximander |website=Encyclopædia Britannica |title=Anaximander |access-date=14 January 2020 |first=James |last=Evans }}{{cite web |url=https://classicalwisdom.com/philosophy/evolutionary-theory-in-ancient-greece-rome/ |title=Evolutionary Theory in Ancient Greece & Rome |date=30 March 2019 |first=Jacob |last=Bell |website=Classical Wisdom Weekly |access-date=14 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200114061418/https://classicalwisdom.com/philosophy/evolutionary-theory-in-ancient-greece-rome/ |archive-date=14 January 2020 |url-status=dead }}

There are also naturalist theories on the origins of the mermaid, postulating they derive from sightings of manatees, dugongs or even seals.{{sfnp|Waugh|1960|pp=77–78}}{{Citation | title = Dugongs and Mermaids, Selkies and Seals | year = 1978 | page = 95 | first = A. Asbjørn | last = Jøn | author-link= |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/280883413 |quotation=these 'marine beasts' have featured in folk tradition for many centuries now, and until relatively recently they have maintained a reasonably standard set of characteristics. Many folklorists and mythographers deem that the origin of the mythic mermaid is the dugong, posing a theory that mythologised tales have been constructed around early sightings of dugongs by sailors.}}

Still another theory, tangentially related to the aforementioned Aquatic Ape Theory, is that the mermaids of folklore were actually human women who trained over time to be skilled divers for things like sponges, and spent a lot of time in the sea as a result. One proponent of this theory is British author William Bond, who has written several books about it.{{cite web |url=https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/412139.William_Bond |title=William Bond |website=Goodreads |access-date=2022-04-29}}{{cite web |url=https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-origins-of-the-mermaid-myth-william-bond/1110956704 |title=The Origins of the Mermaid Myth |first1=William |last1=Bond |first2=Pamela |last2=Suffield |date=2012 |website=barnesandnoble.com |access-date=2022-04-29}}

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| image1 = Pfizer (1843)-ed-Nibelungen Not-p211-Hagen&merminnen.jpg

| alt1 = Hagen sinking the Nibelungen hoard, Rhine maidens

| caption1 = Hagen unloads Nibelungen treasure where the Rhine mermaids await. Adventure 19.

| image2 = Pfizer (1843)-ed-Nibelungen Not-p281-Hagen&meerweiber Hadeburg&Sigelind.jpg

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| caption2 = Hagen with the prophetic mermaids, Hadeburg and Sigelind. Adventure 25.

| footer ={{right|{{small|—Pfizer ed. (1843) Nibelungen noth. Wooodcuts by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld and Eugen Napoleon Neureuther.}}}}

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Two prophetic merwomen (MHG pl.: {{lang|gmh|merwîp}}), Sigelinde (MHG: Sigelint) and her maternal auntLexer (1872) Mittelhochdeutsches Handwörterbuch, s.v. "[https://woerterbuchnetz.de/?sigle=Lexer&lemid=LM01525#2 muome swf.]".. {{lang|de|mutterschwester}} Hadeburg (MHG: Hadeburc) are bathing in the Danube River{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|But perhaps not too far from the meadows opposite the Rhine River where they pitched camp in an earlier passage in the Nibelungenlied, and occurs at the confluence of the Rhine and the Danube in Þiðreks saga,{{harvnb|Paff|1959|p=214}}: "at a point near ' where the Rhine and Danube [Dúná] join" hence Wagner's reinvention of them as Rhinemaidens.{{sfnp|Magee|1990|p=65}}}} when Hagen von Tronje encounters them (Nibelungenlied, Âventiure 25).{{sfnp|Grimm|Stallybrass tr.|1883|p=490}}

They are called sjókonar ("sea women") in the Old Norse Þiđreks saga. There is a swan maiden tale motif involved here (Hagen robs their clothing), but Grimm argued they must have actually been swan maidens, since they are described as hovering above water.Grimm apud {{harvp|Magee|1990|p=63}} and {{harvp|Grimm|Stallybrass tr.|1883|p=490}}

In any case, this brief segment became the "foundational" groundwork of subsequent water-nix lore and literature that developed in the Germanic sphere.

They are a probable source of the three Rhine maidens in Richard Wagner's opera Das Rheingold. Though conceived of as swan-maidens in Wagner's 1848 scenario, the number being a threesome was suggested by the woodcut by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld and Eugen Napoleon Neureuther in the Pfizer edition of 1843 (fig. on the left).

Middle High German mereminne 'mermaid' is mentioned, among other epics, in the Rabenschlacht ("Battle of Ravenna", 13th cent.) of the Dietrich cycle. The mermaid (or {{linktext|undine}}{{sfnp|Paff|1959|p=129}}) is named Wâchilt and is the ancestress{{efn|MHG: ane; modern {{langx|de|Ahn}}.}} of the traitorous Wittich who carries him off at the time of peril to her "submarine home".{{sfnp|Paff|1959|p=129}}

This material has been found translated as a medieval Þiðreks saga only in a late, reworked Swedish version, i.e., one of the closing chapters of Ðiðriks saga (fifteenth century,Hyltén-Cavallius, Gunnar Olof ed. (1854). Sagan om Didrik af Bern [https://books.google.com/books?id=5K4YAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA300 Kap. 383, p. 300]. Den gamla svenska bearbetningen af Didriks saga is dated as ifrån 1400-talet (fifteenth century or later), [https://books.google.com/books?id=5K4YAAAAYAAJ&pg=PR23 p.xxiii] also known as the "Swedish epilogue"{{sfnp|Paff|1959|p=71}}).Haymes tr. (1988), p. 270: "The End of Vidga and Thidrek, according to the Swedish Chronicle of Thidrek", Ch. 439. Vidga takes up residence in Sjaland. The mermaid/undine is here translated as Old Swedish {{lang|mis|haffru}}.

The Old Norse Þiðreks saga properBertelsen, Henrik ed. (1905). Þiđriks saga af Bern [https://books.google.com/books?id=IGtBAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA73&q=siokononar Kap. 84¹ (57), I:73]: "Vaðe rise ier asiolande svnr villcinus konongs ok siokononar ..."{{Refn|The so-called Vilkinasaga ends before this chapter, according to Bertelsen's notes. But Þiðreks saga was frequently referred to as Vilkina saga by early commentators.}} calls the same mermaid a {{lang|non|{{linktext|sjó|kona}}}} ({{lang|non|siókona}} [sic.]) or "sea-woman".{{Refn|Or Ger. Meerfrau.}}

The genealogy is given in the saga: the sea-woman and Villcinus (Vilkinus), king of Scandinavia together had a son, Vaði (Wade) of (Sjóland=Sjælland, Zealand) who was a giant ({{lang|non|risi}}); whose son was Velent (Wayland the Smith), whose son after that was Viðga Velentsson (Wittich or Witige),{{sfnp|Paff|1959|p=53}} who became a companion/champion of King Þiðrekr (Dietrich von Bern).

Thus the saga is an early source which associates a famed clan of merfolk with a place in Denmark, i.e., Sjælland. Sjælland was the divided portion of Villcina-land inherited by the bastard prince Vaði/Wade according to the saga.{{harvp|Paff|1959|pp=53}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=sP8ZAAAAYAAJ&legitimate 217] The Swedish epilogue transposed the locations concerning the battle (from Italy to Germany), and claimed the rescued Viðga/Witige was brought to Sjælland. That is to say, the crucial battle had been in Ravenna, Northern Italy in the German epic Rabenschlacht), but the battle spot was changed to Gronsport, somewhere on the Moselle, in Northern Germany in the Swedish version.{{sfnp|Paff|1959|pp=35, 73, 85}}{{Refn|Identification of Gronsport with a specific modern city has not been made; von Der Hagens tr. (1855) Wilkina- und Niflunga-Saga oder Dietrich von Bern und die Nibelungen, {{URL|1=https://books.google.com/books?id=g2YAAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA267 |2=III: 267n}} states he doesn't know.}}{{harvp|Paff|1959|p=71}}: "The Swedish epilogue (II, 395) purports to know the true story of the death of Viðga and þíðrikr: after þíðrikr chased Viðga into the sea (see Musulá) Viðga's great-grandmother, an undine, conveyed him to Sjælland". Cf. {{harvp|Paff|1959|pp=51–53, 129}}.

The Norman chapel in Durham Castle, built around 1078, has what is probably the earliest surviving artistic depiction of a mermaid in England. It can be seen on a south-facing capital above one of the original Norman stone pillars.{{cite web|title=The Norman Chapel|url=http://www.durhamworldheritagesite.com/architecture/castle/intro/north-range/norman-chapel|website=Architecture|publisher=Durham World heritage|access-date=11 May 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120509014808/http://www.durhamwor/|archive-date=9 May 2012|url-status=dead}}

File:Zennor Mermaid Chair.JPG, Cornwall.}}}}]]

Mermaids appear in British folklore as unlucky omens, both foretelling disaster and provoking it.{{sfnp|Briggs|1976|p=287}} Several variants of the ballad Sir Patrick Spens depict a mermaid speaking to the doomed ships. In some versions, she tells them they will never see land again; in others, she claims they are near shore, which they are wise enough to know means the same thing. Mermaids can also be a sign of approaching rough weather,{{Citation | first = Francis James | last = Child | title = The English and Scottish Popular Ballads | volume = 2 | page = 19 | place = New York | publisher = Dover | year = 1965}}. and some have been described as monstrous in size, up to {{convert|2000|ft|m}}.{{sfnp|Briggs|1976|p=287}}

In another short ballad, "Clerk Colvill" (Child ballad No. 42), the mermaid seduces the title character and foretells his doom. It has been surmised that in the original complete version, the man was being penalized for spurning her, though the Scandinavian counterparts that tells the complete story feature an elf-woman or elf queen rather than mermaid. In "The Mermaid" (Child ballad 289), her sighting forebodes a vessel's deadly shipwreck.

Mermaids have been described as able to swim up rivers to freshwater lakes. In one story, the Laird of Lorntie went to aid a woman he thought was drowning in a lake near his house; his servant pulled him back, warning that it was a mermaid, and the mermaid screamed at them that she would have killed him if it were not for his servant.{{Citation | first = KM | last = Briggs | title = The Fairies in English Tradition and Literature | page = 57 | publisher = University of Chicago Press | place = London | year = 1967}}. But mermaids could occasionally be more beneficent; e.g., teaching humans cures for certain diseases.{{sfnp|Briggs|1976|p=288}} Mermen have been described as wilder and uglier than mermaids, with little interest in humans.{{sfnp|Briggs|1976|p=290}}

According to legend a mermaid came to the Cornish village of Zennor, where she used to listen to the singing of a chorister, Matthew Trewhella.{{sfnp|Waugh|1960|p=82}} The two fell in love, and Matthew went with the mermaid to her home at Pendour Cove. On summer nights, the lovers can be heard singing together. The legend, recorded by folklorist William Bottrell, stems from a fifteenth-century mermaid carving on a wooden bench at the Church of Saint Senara in Zennor.{{sfnp|Wood|2018|p=68}}

Some tales raised the question of whether mermaids had immortal souls, answering in the negative.{{sfnp|Briggs|1976|p=289}}

In Scottish mythology, a ceasg is a freshwater mermaid, though little beside the term has been preserved in folklore.{{citation|last=Watson |first=E. C. |title=Highland Mythology |journal=The Celtic Review |volume=5 |issue=17 |year=1908 |page=67 |url=https://archive.org/stream/celticreview05edinuoft#page/66/mode/2up|doi=10.2307/30069982 |jstor=30069982 }}

Mermaids from the Isle of Man, known as ben-varrey, are considered more favorable toward humans than those of other regions,Briggs, Katharine (1976). An Encyclopedia of Fairies. Pantheon Books. pp. 22–23. "Ben-Varrey". {{ISBN|0-394-40918-3}}. with various accounts of assistance, gifts and rewards. One story tells of a fisherman who carried a stranded mermaid back into the sea and was rewarded with the location of treasure. Another recounts the tale of a baby mermaid who stole a doll from a human little girl, but was rebuked by her mother and sent back to the girl with a gift of a pearl necklace to atone for the theft. A third story tells of a fishing family that made regular gifts of apples to a mermaid and was rewarded with prosperity.

In Irish lore, Lí Ban was a human being transformed into a mermaid. After three centuries, when Christianity came to Ireland, she was baptized.{{sfnp|Briggs|1976|pp=266–7}} The Irish mermaid is called merrow in tales such as "Lady of Gollerus" published in the nineteenth century.

The mermaid corresponds to Danish and Bokmål Norwegian {{lang|da|{{linktext|havfrue}}}}, whereas merman answers to Danish/Norwegian havmand.{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Tracing this etymologically to Old Norse is elusive. Old Swedish haffru was used as a translation word in the Sweidish saga of Didrik (14 cent.) as mentioned under §Etymologies.}}

As a side-note, a supposed Old Norse haffrú is the etymological source of Norman French havette for a man-snatching water-sprite, according to one linguist.{{Refn|Wartburg, Walther von (1922-) Französisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, XVI: 112, [https://apps.atilf.fr/lecteurFEW/index.php/site/index searchable index], translated by Gorog, in his supplementary list of Norman words borrowed from Old Norse which were missed by Fries, Jan de (1962). Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch.}}{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|The initial "h" is an aspirated h here could very well be pronounced, even in modern Normandy, especially for words borrowed from the Germanic, as Gorog points out elsewhere. Wartburg (Gorog tr.) glosses navette" as "sort of water-sprite (ondine'') which attracts passers-by at night.. and plunges in with them", adding that in the patois of Valognes, it is used as a bugbear to frighten children from approaching water.}}

An early description of the Havfrue, and her mate Havmand, was given by the Danish Bishop Pontoppidan (1753). They were considered the mating female and male of the creature, inhabiting the North Sea,{{sfnp|Pontoppidan|1753a|p=302}}{{sfnp|Pontoppidan|1755|p=186}} and their offspring was called {{lang|no|marmæle}} (var. {{lang|no|marmæte}}),{{sfnp|Pontoppidan|1753a|pp=304, 312, 317}}{{sfnp|Pontoppidan|1755|pp=187, 192, 195}} as repeated by later commentators.{{harvp|Faye|1833|p=59}}: "Havmaend og Havfruer (mermen and mermaids)", in the plural

Though he was aware of fabulous fables being told about them,{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|And documented some of these fables, as the mermaid purportedly foretelling the birth of Christian IV.}}{{sfnp|Pontoppidan|1753a|p=303}}{{sfnp|Pontoppidan|1755|p=186}} he was convinced such creature existed. But as they were non-human, he argued the term Havmand (merman) should be avoided, in favor of some coined term such as sea-ape ({{langx|da|hav-abe}}).{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Or even the eccentric "Sea-Quoyas Morrov", after apparently the native Angolan name for some ape, because a mermaid capture in Angola was also documented.}}{{sfnp|Pontoppidan|1753a|p=306}}{{sfnp|Pontoppidan|1755|p=188}} He also knowingly employed Old Norwegian/Old Norse maryge [sic.] and hafstrambe [sic.]{{efn|Recté margýgr and hafstrambr, as described below}} as the Norwegian names of the mermaid and merman respectively.{{sfnp|Pontoppidan|1753a|loc=p. 302n; p. 304}}{{sfnp|Pontoppidan|1755|loc=p. 183; p. 186n}}

The Icelandic cognate form is {{lang|is|haffrú}} with several synonyms,{{efn|{{lang|is|margýgur, hafgygur}} ('mer-troll'), {{lang|is|haffrú}} ('sea-maid'); {{lang|is|mey-fiskr}} ('maiden-fish').}} though instead of these the commonly used term today is {{lang|is|hafmey}}.

The Faroese forms are {{lang|fo|havfrúgv}} ({{lang|fo|havfrúg}}).{{sfnp|Hayward|2017|p=8}} The Swedish form is {{lang|sv|hafsfru}}, with other synonyms such as {{lang|sv|sjöjungfru}},{{sfnp|Hayward|2017|p=8}}{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|In Sweden also and {{lang|sv|sjö-kona}} ({{lang|sv|sjö-kuna}} in the dialect of Ruhnu, Estonia).}} or {{lang|sv|sjörå}} ('sea-fairy', the maritime counterpart of the forest {{lang|sv|skogsrå}}).

The terms margýgur or havgýgur as aliases for mermaid were apparently current among the populace in modern-age Iceland, according to Jón Árnason{{Refn|Though he is clearly dependent on past written literature also, e.g. Jón Guðmundsson the Learned (d. 1658), who also classified the mermen/mermaids among elves.}} alongside the marbendill (modern Icelandic for ON marmennill)

Benjamin Thorpe (1851) writing on Norwegian folklore gave margygr for mermaid (and marmennill for merman) as Norwegian folk terms,{{efn|And also {{harvp|Bassett|1892|p=172}}}} but these are interpolations, which the source, Andreas Faye's Norske sagn (1833),{{Refn|Thorpe, identifies Faye as the general source on p. 9, note 2. .}} only side-noted as occurrences of old terms in medieval literature.{{harvp|Faye|1833|p=59}}. Note (Anm.). The merman ({{langx|non|marmendill}}) in Halfs saga (fourteenth century) and Landnámabók; margygr ({{langx|non|margyr}}) in the saga of St. Olaf.

The beautiful havfrue of Scandinavia may be benevolent or malicious, and legends about her abducting maidens (cf. infra) is given as a case of point for her malice.

It is said the havfrue will avenge harm done to it, as in the Norwegian anecdote of one who was lured near the ship, and had her hand cruelly lopped off on the gunwale. She caused a storm that nearly drowned the wicked sailor.{{harvp|Faye|1833|pp=59–60}}, cited by {{harvp|Bassett|1892|pp=172–173}}

The appearance/sighting alone betides an impending storm. Norwegians do not wish to see the havfrue, as she heralds storm or bad weather (Norway).{{harvp|Faye|1833|p=59}}: "bebude Storm og Uveir"; {{harvp|Bassett|1892|p=172}}: "" The appearance of the sjörå forebodes a storm or poor catch in Swedish tradition, much as the appearance of the skogsrå (wood-nymph) presages poor catch for the hunter. According to the superstitions of Swedish fishermen, if one saw a sjörå who was harbinger of tempest and bad catch, one should not tell his comrades but strike flint against steel to light a spark.

In other cases the Scandinavian mermaid is considered to be prophetic.

The tale type "The Mermaid's Message" ({{langx|no|Havfruas spådom}}, ML 4060) is recognized as a {{interlanguage link|Migratory Legend|no|Vandresagn}}, i.e., a group of tales found in Scandinavia with parallels found elsewhere, according to the scheme devised by Reidar Thoralf Christiansen. This may not necessarily involve the mermaid's spaeing, and in the following example of this ML type tale, she merely imparts wisdom: A fisherman who performs favors and earns the privilege to pose three questions to a mermaid. He inquires about the most suitable material for a flail, to which she answers calf's hide, of course, and tells him he should have asked about how to brew water (into beer), which would have benefited him more greatly.Chapter 52: Spirit of the Sea / 52.4 "Mermaid and the Fisherman" in: {{harvp|Kvideland|Sehmsdorf|1988|pp=261–262}} apud Rekdal, Olav (1933) "Havfrua og fiskaren", [https://books.google.com/books?id=_w1RAQAAMAAJ&q=Havfrua Eventyr og segner] p. 110. Collected in 1923 from Guri Finnset in Eikisdalen, Romsdalen (Norway).

The Swedish ballad "Hafsfrun" (≈{{interlanguage link|Havsfruns tärna|sv|lt=Havsfruns tärna}}, SMB 23, TSB A 51) is an instance where a mermaid kidnaps a human girl at age fifteen, and when the girl's brother accomplishes the rescue, the mermaid declares she would have cracked{{efn|The original text gives knäckt (i.e. cracked), rather than kneckt or knackt.{{sfnp|Grimm|Stallybrass tr.|1883|loc=2: 494–495}}}} her neck if she knew she would be thus betrayed.{{Refn|Folksong text published by Adolf Ivar Arwidsson, discussed by Grimm{{sfnp|Grimm|Stallybrass tr.|1883|loc=2: 494–495}} and Keightley.}} The Swedish merman Hafsman[nen] steals a human woman to become his bride according to folklore.{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|The Swedish ballad "Hafsmannen" is based on the abduction theme, and recounts the same myth as Danish ballad "Rosmer Havmand".}}

As aforementioned, the mermaid ({{langx|no|havfrue}}) takes the merman ({{langx|no|havmand}}) for husband, and produce children called marmæler (sing. {{langx|no|marmæle}}, "sea-talkers"), which the fishermen sometimes bring home to gain insight into the future.{{harvp|Faye|1833|pp=58–59}}, cited by {{harvp|Bassett|1892|p=172}}

Early sources say that Norwegian fishermen who capture the marmæte or marmæle may bring them home but do not dare keep it for more than 24 hours before turning them back into the sea whence they found it.{{sfnp|Pontoppidan|1755|p=195}}

Jón Árnason describes the margýgur as yellow-haired woman who is fish from the waist down, who drags careless seamen to the depths of the sea.

File:Flateyjarbok Olaf Tryggvason (cropped).jpg's book and Dubois's paper.{{cite journal|last=DuBois|first=Thomas A. |author-link=Thomas A. DuBois |title=A History Seen: The Uses of Illumination in 'Flateyjarbók' |journal=The Journal of English and Germanic Philology |volume=103 |number=1 |date=January 2004 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MWxXAAAAYAAJ&q=B%C3%A6singr |pages=33–35 (fig. 15) |jstor=27712401}}}}{{right|{{small|―Flateyjarbk fol. 79r}}}}]]

However, margygr literally means something like "mer-troll", and in medieval tradition, the margygr is more of a "sea monster" or "sea-ogress".{{Refn|Also "giantess who emerges from the sea", and "described.. as disgusting trolls".}}

According to a version of the Saga of St. Olaf (Olaf II of Norway) the king encountered a margygr whose singing lulled voyagers to sleep causing them to drown and whose high-pitched shrieks drove men insane. Her physical appearance is described thus: "She has a head like a horse, with ears erect and distended nostrils, big green eyes and fearful jaws. She has shoulders like a horse and hands in front; but behind she resembles a serpent". This margygr was also said to be furry like a seal, and gray-colored.

File:Bookofmelusine.jpg, Le livre de Mélusine, 1478.]]

Melusine is a mermaid-like character from European folklore, cursed to take the form of a serpent from the waist down. Later depictions sometimes changed this to a fish tail.{{cite web | url = https://archive.org/details/melusine00jeanuoft | title=Melusine, Compiled (1382–1394 AD) by Jean D'Arras, Englisht About 1500 | publisher=Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner | year=1895 | access-date=20 November 2012 | last = Donald | first = A.K.}} At some point, possibly in the late nineteenth century, her name became attached to the two-tailed mermaid of heraldry.

The alchemist Paracelsus's treatise A Book on Nymphs, Sylphs, Pygmies, and Salamanders, and on the Other Spirits (1566) spawned the idea that the water elemental (or water sprite) could acquire an immortal soul through marriage with a human; this led to the writing of De la Motte Fouqué's novella Undine, and eventually to the famous literary mermaid tale, Hans Christian Andersen's "The Little Mermaid".{{cite book|last=Jarvis |first=Shawn C. |author-link= |editor-last=Haase |editor-first=Donald |editor-link= |title=The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Folktales and Fairy Tales [3 Volumes] |publisher=Greenwood |year=2007 |url=https://archive.org/details/the-greenwood-encyclopedia-of-folktales-and-fairy-tales/page/621/mode/2up |pages=619–621 |isbn=978-0-313-04947-7}}

During the Romanesque period, mermaids were often associated with lust.Yves Morvan, La Sirène et la luxure, Communication du Colloque "La luxure et le corps dans l'art roman", Mozac, 2008Teodolinda Barolini, La Commedia senza Dio: Dante e la creazione di una realtà, 2003, p.150

The conception of the siren as both a mermaid-like creature and part bird-like persisted in Byzantine Greece for some time.{{sfnp|Wood|2018|pp=51–52}} The Physiologus began switching the illustration of the siren as that a mermaid, as in a version dated to the ninth century. The tenth century Byzantine Greek dictionary Suda still favored the avian description."{{URL|http://www.stoa.org/sol-entries/sigma/280|Seirênas}}", "Suda on Line", tr. Robert Dyer on 13 June 2002.{{sfnp|Wood|2018|p=52}}

There is a modern Greek legend that Alexander the Great's sister Thessalonike turned into a mermaid ({{langx|el|γοργόνα}}) after her death, living in the Aegean. She would ask the sailors on any ship she encountered only one question: "Is King Alexander alive?",({{langx|el|"Ζει ο Βασιλεύς Αλέξανδρος;"}}) to which the correct answer was: "He lives and reigns and conquers the world" (Greek: "Ζει και βασιλεύει και τον κόσμον κυριεύει"). This answer would please her, and she would accordingly calm the waters and bid the ship farewell. Any other answer would enrage her, and she would stir up a terrible storm, dooming the ship and every sailor on board.{{Cite book|chapter=Alexander and the Mermaid |title=Folktales from Greece | last1 = Mitakidou | first1 = Christodoula | last2 = Manna | first2 = Anthony L. | last3 = Mitakidou | first3 = Soula | year = 2002 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fHt6Jqnmkv0C&pg=PA93 |page=96 |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic | isbn = 1-56308-908-4}}. This legend derives from an Alexander romance entitled the Phylláda tou Megaléxandrou (Φυλλάδα του Μεγαλέξανδρου) dating to the Ottoman Greece period, first printed in 1680.

File:Ilya Repin - Sadko - Google Art Project levels adjustment 2.jpg, Sadko (1876)]]

Rusalkas are the Slavic counterpart of the Greek sirens and naiads, often seducing sailors to their doom.{{sfnp|Naroditskaya|Austern|2006|p=6}}{{cite book | last =Ivanits| first = Linda J.| title= Russian folk belief| year= 1992| publisher= M.E. Sharpe| location = Armonk, NY | isbn = 978-0-87332-889-0| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=-s36xYcqG1EC&pg=PA77 | edition= 1st pbk. | others = Schiller, Sophie illustr.| page = 76}} The nature of rusalkas varies among folk traditions, but according to ethnologist D.K. Zelenin they all share a common element: they are the restless spirits of the unclean dead. They are usually the ghosts of young women who died a violent or untimely death, either by murder or suicide, before their wedding, especially by drowning. Rusalkas are said to inhabit lakes and rivers. They appear as beautiful young women with long pale green hair and pale skin, suggesting a connection with floating weeds and days spent underwater in faint sunlight. They can be seen after dark, dancing together under the moon and calling out to young men by name, luring them to the water and drowning them. The characterization of rusalkas as both desirable and treacherous is prevalent in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, and was emphasized by nineteenth-century Russian authors.{{cite book | last =Illes|first= Judika |chapter=Rusalka |title= The encyclopedia of spirits: the ultimate guide to the magic of fairies, genies, demons, ghosts, gods, and goddesses |year= 2009 |publisher= HarperOne | location =New York|isbn = 978-0-06-135024-5 |chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=jDr51XX_YjEC&pg=PA871| page=871}}{{cite book|last=Warner |first=Elizabeth |author-link= |title=Russian myths |year=2002 |publisher=Univ. of Texas Press|location=Austin, TX |isbn = 978-0-292-79158-9 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=_PoesCeU0iUC&pg=PA42| page = 42}}{{cite book| editor-last= Kelly | editor-first = Katherine E.|title = Modern drama by women 1800s–1930s: an international anthology|year= 1996 | publisher = Routledge| location = London |isbn = 978-0-415-12493-5 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=HCcl02qHH70C&pg=PA326| page= 326}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IO_qBgAAQBAJ&pg=PR64 |title=Russian Folk Belief|last=Ivanits|first=Linda J.|date=4 March 2015|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781317460398}} The best-known of the great Czech nationalist composer Antonín Dvořák's operas is Rusalka.

In Sadko ({{langx |ru|Садко}}), an East Slavic epic, the title character—an adventurer, merchant, and gusli musician from Novgorod—lives for some time in the underwater court of the Sea Tsar and marries his daughter, Chernava, before finally returning home. The tale inspired such works as the poem Sadko{{Citation | title = A History of Russian Poetry | first = Evelyn | last = Bristol | year = 1991 | isbn = 0-19-504659-5 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=VxNgAAAAMAAJ | page = 149| publisher = Oxford University Press }} by Alexei Tolstoy (1817–75), the opera Sadko composed by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, and the painting Sadko by Ilya Repin.

{{Further|Merfolk#China}}

A merfolk race called the {{interlanguage link|Di people (merfolk)|zh|氐人族|lt=Di people|preserve=1}} are described as populating its own nation in the Shanhaijing (Classic of Mountains and Seas) compilation of Chinese geography and mythology, dating from the fourth century BC.{{sfnp|Magnani|2022|p=89}} The ancient work also included several types of human-headed fish, such as the {{interlanguage link|chiru (fish)|zh|赤鱬|lt=chiru|preserve=1}} or "red ru fish";{{sfnp|Magnani|2022|p=89}} as well as creature with some humanlike qualities like the renyu ({{lang|zh|人魚}}) or "human-fish".{{sfnp|Magnani|2022|p=89}}

Note that these are not of a specific gender, so they are not really conducive to being called "mermaids", though some English (European) writers might use "mermaid" as shorthand.

There is also an account of the {{interlanguage link|hairenyu|ja|海人魚|lt=hairenyu}}({{lang|zh|海人魚}}; literally "sea human fish"), given in the Taiping guangji compilation, sourced from the work entitled Qiawenji ({{lang|zh|洽聞記}}). The female of its kind had a head like beautiful woman's, with hair like a horse's tail, and white skin like jade without scales, covered with multicolored downy hair (or peach fuzz), and legless. The male and female had sexual organs like humans, so that widows and {{linktext|widowers}} would keep them in their ponds, and the creatures could perform sexual intercourse normally as a human would.{{sfnp|Magnani|2022|p=91}}{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|The anecdote is set in Donghai or "Eastern Sea" which designates "East China Sea" on a modern atlas (and this is given in Magnani's translation), but is "Eastern Sea" given by Groot translating this passage. Historically, the name could apply to the Sea of Japan.}}

An anecdote considered relevant{{sfnp|Matsuoka|1982|p=56}} concerns a renyu ("human fish") allegedly seen by the ship carrying Zha Dao ({{lang|zh|査道}}), and emissary to Korea. She had an unkempt hairdo and scarlet mane extending to the back of her elbows. Zha ordered the crew to bring her aboard with poles, but she escaped. Zha explained that she was a renyu, adept at copulating with humans, and was a type of human dwelling in the sea. The anecdote in the lost Cuyiji ("Records of Bygone Extraordinay Things") from the Northern Song period,{{sfnp|Matsuoka|1982|p=56}} survives in quotes, e.g., from leishu compilation Gujin tushu jicheng ({{lang|zh|古今圖書集成}} "Comprehensive Compendium of Illustrations and Books, Ancient and Modern").

Korea is bound on three sides by the sea. In some villages near the sea in Korea, there are mysterious stories about mermaids. Mermaids have features just like humans. Kim Dam Ryeong, a mayor of the town{{Specify |reason=Which town? |date=December 2022}}, saved four captured mermaids from a fisherman, as recorded in the Eou yadam (unofficial histories).{{cite book|last1=Keith |first1=Sarah |author-link= |last2=Lee |first2=Sung-Ae |author-link2= |chapter=Legend of the Blue Sea: Mermaids in South Korean folklore and popular culture |editor-last=Hayward |editor-first=Philip |editor-link= |title=Scaled for Success: The Internationalisation of the Mermaid |year=2018 |publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=978-0861967322|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mrFiDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA74 |pages=78–79}} In Dongabaek Island of Busan is a tale of Princess Hwang-ok from Naranda, a mythical undersea kingdom of mermaids; this tale is based on the historical Heo Hwang-ok from India.{{sfnp|Keith|Lee|2018|pp=73–74}} Another tale concerns a mermaid named Sinjike ({{langx|ko|신지끼}}) who warned fishermen of impending storms by singing and throwing rocks into the sea from Geomun Island. The island's residents believed her to be a goddess of the sea and that she could predict the weather.{{sfnp|Keith|Lee|2018|p=74}}

{{Main|Ningyo}}

File:Ningyo-no-zu-Bunka02-05.jpg

The Japanese equivalent is {{nihongo|ningyo|人魚|extra=literally "human-fish"}}. According to one dictionary, ningyo oftentimes refers to a "half-woman and half-fish fabulous creature", i.e., mermaid, though not necessarily female, i.e., includes mermen.

Despite the dictionary stating it has the appearance of half-woman half-fish, the creature has been pictorialized rather as a being with a human female head sitting on a body which is entirely fish-like (see fig. right).

The ningyo's flesh was purported to be an elixir, and consuming its flesh said to bestow remarkable longevity.

A famous ningyo legend concerns the {{interlanguage link|Yao bikuni|ja|八百比丘尼}} who is said to have partaken of the flesh of a merfolk and attained miraculous longevity and lived for centuries. It is not discernible whether the flesh was a female; a pair of translators call it "flesh of a mermaid" in one book, but merely a "strange fish with a human face" in another.{{harvp|Toriyama|2017|p=120}}, notes by Yoda and Alt.

A ningyo might be counted as a yōkai since it is included in Toriyama Sekien's Hyakki Yagyō series. Gender is unclear, as it is only described as a being with "a human face, a fish body". However, Sekien's ningyo picture actually represents a "human-fish" that lives in Western China, also known as the Di people {{interlanguage link|Diren (merfolk){{!}}Diren|zh|氐人族}}, according to the inscription printed alongside. They are described in the Classic of Mountains and Seas and translated as the "Low People"{{sfnp|Birrell tr.|2000|p=136}} or the "Di People".

File:Hanuman_and_Mermaid_Suvannamaccha.jpg and Hanuman, mural at Wat Phra Kaew, Bangkok.]]

In Hinduism, Suvannamaccha (literally "golden mermaid") is a daughter of Ravana who also appears in the Thai and other Southeast Asian versions of Ramayana.{{cite book | author=Satyavrat Sastri | title=Discovery of Sanskrit Treasures: Epics and Puranas | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=seljAAAAMAAJ | access-date=24 July 2012 | year=2006 | publisher=Yash Publications | isbn=978-81-89537-04-3 | page = 77}} She is a mermaid princess who tries to spoil Hanuman's plans to build a bridge to Lanka but falls in love with him instead.{{cite book | author=S.N. Desai | title=Hinduism in Thai Life | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VmsKr7lqTjwC&pg=PA135 | access-date=24 July 2012 | year = 2005 | publisher=Popular Prakashan | isbn=978-81-7154-189-8 | page=135 }}

In Cambodia, she is referred as Sovanna Maccha, a favorite for Cambodian audiences.[http://vorasith.online.fr/cambodge/reamker.htm Le Reamker] – Description of Ream Ker in French

In the Javanese culture of Indonesia, Nyai Roro Kidul is a sea goddess and the Queen of the Southern Seas; the mermaid queen is said to inhabit the southern beach in Java.{{cite book|last=Illes |first=Judika |author-link=Judika Illes |chapter= |title=The Encyclopedia of Spirits |publisher=HarperOne |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-06-135024-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jDr51XX_YjEC&pg=PA768 |page=768}} She has many forms; in her mermaid form, she is called Nyai Blorong.Robson, Stuart. The Kraton, KITLV Press 2003, Leiden, {{ISBN|90-6718-131-5}}, p. 77

In the Tagalog language mermaids are known as sirena and siyokoy respectively.{{Citation|title=Tagalog-English Dictionary |first=Leo James |last=English |publisher=Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer; National Book Store |place=Manila |isbn=971-91055-0-X |year=1986 }}, 1583 pp. The general term for mermaid among all ethnic groups is Sirena.Philippine Demonological Legends and Their Cultural Bearings, Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing 1990

In the Philippines, mermaid concepts differ per ethnic group. Among the Pangasinense, the Binalatongan mermaid is a Queen of the sea who married the mortal Maginoo Palasipas and ruled humanity for a time.The Beyer Ethnographic Series Among the Ilocano, mermaids were said to have propagated and spread through the union of the first Serena and the first Litao, a water god. Among the Bicolano, mermaids were referred as Magindara, known for their beautiful voice and vicious nature.Bikol Beliefs and Folkways: A Showcase of Tradition. Nasayao, 2010 Among the Sambal, mermaids called Mambubuno are depicted as having two fins, instead of one.

In the folktale "Mermaid" (Cebuano language: {{lang|ceb|Ang Kataw}}) localized in Cebu and Bohol Provinces, a couple named Juan and Juana is about to have a daughter, but the pregnant wife has a constant craving for milkfish (Cebuano: {{lang|ceb|{{linktext|awa}}}}). One day his fishing caught nothing, but met a talking milkfish wearing a crown, the "King of the Fishes" (Cebuano: {{lang|ceb|{{linktext|hari |sa |mga}}}}) who offered to give him plenty every day, in exchange for the taking the child later, at 7 years of age. She was eventually swept away by the waves, and presumed lost to the king. The parents, hoping to see her again on the beach did so finally, on a moonlit night, witnessed a black haired woman with the body of a milkfish, whom they knew was Maria.{{Refn|name="alburo-tr"|Alburo, Erlinda K. ed. tr., Reprinted in The Penguin Book of Mermaids.{{harvp|Bacchilega|Brown|2019|pp=223–234}} }}

Mermaids and mermen are characters in the myth of "Pania of the Reef", a well-known tale of Māori mythology, which has many parallels with stories of sea-people in other parts of the world.

Mami Water (Lit. "Mother of the Water") are water spirits venerated in West, Central and southern Africa, and in the African diaspora in the Caribbean and parts of North, Central and South America. They are usually female, but are sometimes male. They are regarded as diabolical beings, and are often femme fatales, luring men to their deaths.{{Cite book | last = Drewal | first = Henry John | title = Sacred Waters: Arts for Mami Wata and other divinities in Africa and the diaspora | contribution = Introduction: Charting the Voyage | place = Bloomington | publisher = Indiana University Press | year = 2008 | isbn = 978-0-253-35156-2 | page = 1}}. The Persian word "پری دریایی" or "maneli" means "mermaid".{{cite book |title=Honeymoon in Tehran |isbn=978-0-8129-7790-5 |first=Azadeh |last=Moaveni |author-link=Azadeh Moaveni |publisher=Random House |year=2010 |page=[https://archive.org/details/honeymoonintehra00azad/page/240 240] |quote=The banning of some names, like Maneli (meaning Mermaid) [...] seemed to have no rationale at all |url=https://archive.org/details/honeymoonintehra00azad/page/240 }}

Among the Shona of Zimbabwe, njuzu are mermaid-like spirits.{{Cite journal |last=Bernard |first=Penny S. |date=2003 |title=Ecological Implications of Water Spirit Beliefs in Southern Africa: The Need to Protect Knowledge, Nature, and Resource Rights |url=https://media.tracks4africa.co.za/users/files/w386028_1755.pdf |journal=USDA Forest Service Proceedings |pages=150}} The jengu, also known as the "Itongo" (Sea Queen), of Cameroon is sometimes depicted as half woman and half fish.{{sfn|Nkemleke|Neba|2020|page=390}}

The One Thousand and One Nights collection includes several tales featuring "sea people", such as "Jullanâr the Sea-born and Her Son King Badr Bâsim of Persia".{{Cite book|title= One Thousand and One Nights: A Companion|first = Robert | last=Irwin|publisher=Tauris Parke Paperbacks| year=2003| isbn=1-86064-983-1| page = 209}} Unlike depictions of mermaids in other mythologies, these are anatomically identical to land-bound humans, differing only in their ability to breathe and live underwater. They can (and do) interbreed with land humans, and the children of such unions have the ability to live underwater. In the tale "Abdullah the Fisherman and Abdullah the Merman", the protagonist Abdullah the Fisherman gains the ability to breathe underwater and discovers an underwater society that is portrayed as an inverted reflection of society on land. The underwater society follows a form of primitive communism where concepts like money and clothing do not exist. In "The Adventures of Bulukiya", the protagonist Bulukiya's quest for the herb of immortality leads him to explore the seas, where he encounters societies of mermaids.

The Neo-Taíno nations of the Caribbean identify a mermaid called Aycayia{{cite web |url = http://www.conexioncubana.net/index.php?st=others&sk=pdef&id=a |title = Diccionario de Argot Cubano |publisher = Conexion Cubana |access-date = 24 April 2012 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110930102913/http://www.conexioncubana.net/index.php?st=others&sk=pdef&id=a |archive-date = 30 September 2011 |url-status = dead }}{{cite web|last=Bennett | first=Lennie |title=Four exhibitions woven into 'Textures' |url=http://www.tampabay.com/features/visualarts/article680572.ece |date=10 July 2008 |website=Tampa Bay |publisher=The St. Petersburg Times |access-date=25 April 2009 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201152219/http://www.tampabay.com/features/visualarts/article680572.ece |archive-date=1 December 2008 }} with attributes of the goddess Jagua and the hibiscus flower of the majagua tree Hibiscus tiliaceus.{{cite web |url= http://www.hear.org/starr/hiplants/images/thumbnails/html/hibiscus_tiliaceus.htm |title= Hibiscus tiliaceus – Hau (Malvaceae) – Plants of Hawaii |publisher= Hear.org |access-date= 24 April 2012 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080508172241/http://www.hear.org/starr/hiplants/images/thumbnails/html/hibiscus_tiliaceus.htm |archive-date= 8 May 2008 |url-status= dead }} In modern Caribbean culture, there are a number of mermaids that are derived from West African originals and taken by slaves. These include Watramama in Suriname and Guyana, Mamadjo in Grenada, Yemanya or Yemaya in Brazil and Cuba, Erzulie in Haiti), and Lamanté in Martinique.{{sfn|Nies|2014|page=306}} There is a mermaid recognized as a Haitian vodou loa called Lasirèn (from the French {{langx|fr|la siréne}}, "the mermaid"), representing wealth, beauty and romance, but also the possibility of death.{{sfn|Nies|2014|page=307}}

In Brazilian folklore, the iara, also known as mãe-d'agua ("lady/mother of the water") is a water-dwelling beauty whom fishermen are prone to fall prey to. According to eighteenth-century sources, she is a long-haired woman who enchant men by night, and those who scucumb die, "drowned by passion". Folklore also blamed disappearances of men on the Iara who lured them singing in the indigenous language.

The ascribed hair and eye color differs depends on the tradition in various regions. According to the tale of the Manaus tribe youth Jaguarari and the Yara, she has hair of the color of the pau d'arco tree's flowers{{efn|yellow or white to pink, it is not clear.}} (var. green hair) and pink skin,{{Refn|hair of "pau d'arco" color and skin as pink as colhereira occurs in Affonso Arinos (1917) "A Yara", "pink skin and green hair" in the variant of the same tale in Dorson, Mercedes; Wilmot, Jeanne edd. (1997) "The Legend of the Yara" Tales from the Rain Forest.}} while she is black-haired according to some. Other commentators insist Iara is a "beautiful white woman who lives in a river",{{sfnp|Teixeira|1992|p=33}} reputedly golden-haired, and blue-eyed{{harvp|Cascudo|1962|loc=1: 25}}, "ALAMOA": "{{lang|pt|A pele, olhos e cabelos da Alamoa são as da convencional Iara, pele branca, olhos azuis , cabelo louro}}." though the blond, blue-eyed image was not attested until after the mid-nineteenth century, to the best knowledge of Camara Cascudo.{{efn|The authority in question, Cascudo sees the influence of Gonçalves Dias's "romantic indigenization".}}{{harvp|Cascudo|1962|loc=1: 364}}, "IARA", cross-referenced to: {{harvp|Cascudo|1962|loc=2: 441–442}} "MÃE-D'ÁGUA". Cascudo in his earlier writing contended that though the Iara was rooted in two indigenous beings, the water-devil Ipupiara (cf. below) and the Cobra-Grande, he also saw the combining of the Portuguese lore of the Enchanted Moura (moorish girl), who was obviously dark-skinned.Cascudo (1983) [1947], Geografia dos mitos brasileiros, p. 134. Cited and summarized by {{harvp|Teixeira|1992|p=33}}{{efn|Cascudo's Dicionario do folclore brasileiro (1954) explores numerous other contributing European lore and indigenous water-myth.}} The Iara became increasingly to be regarded as a woman-fish, after the image of the European sirens/mermaids.

It is often argued that the legends of the Iara developed around the eighteenth century out of the indigenous myth of the {{interlanguage link|Ipupiara (monster)|pt|Ipupiara (criptozoologia)|lt=Ipupiara}} among the Tupinambá people. The Ipupiara was originally conceived of as a male water-dweller that carried fishermen to the bottom, devouring their mouths, nose, fingertips and genitals. European writers during the age of exploration disseminated the myth, but the {{interlanguage link|Pero de Magalhães Gandavo|pt|lt=Gandavo}} (1576){{efn|Pero de Magalhães Gandavo. História da Província de Santa Cruz (1576)}} included an illustration of "Hipupiàra" with female breasts. Subsequently the Jesuit {{interlanguage link|Fernão Cardim|pt|lt=Cardim}}{{efn|Do clima e terra do Brasil, 1584}} wrote that the "Igpupiàra" also consisted of females that look like women with long hair. Though somewhat vague in the case of Gandavo, Cardim had clearly injected Christian opinion which would readily relegate the role of emasculating men to the female kind.{{Refn|Fonseca invoking the vagina dentata concept and quoting {{cite book|editor-last=Walker |editor-first=Barbara G. |editor-link= |title=The Woman's Dictionary of Symbols and Sacred Objects |publisher=Harper & Row |date=1983 |page=328 |quote=Christianity made the vagina a metaphor for the gate of hell and revived the ancient fear-inducing image of the vagina dentata (toothed vagina) that could bite off a man's penis}}}} Later with the introduction of African slaves, the Yoruba myth of Iemanjá was admixed into the telling.

The Alamoa is a well known legend in the island of Fernando de Noronha, northeast of the Brazilian mainland. An alluring half-naked woman, she who would seduced men by night, and the charmed lovers who followed her end up falling off the island cliff, off Pico hill.{{cite web|url=https://becodenoronha.com.br/blog/alamoa-a-lenda-da-sereia-de-fernando-de-noronha/|title=Beco de Noronha - Fernando de Noronha |access-date=2023-01-26 |website=becodenoronha.com.br |language=pt-br}} Again, modern commentary paints her as a "beautiful white woman ({{lang|pt|linda mulher branca}})", which would be consistent with the name Alamoa being an older form of {{lang|pt|{{linktext|alemão}}}}, which now means "blonde, fair-skinned woman"{{efn|alemão in the first instance means "German woman", but by transferrence, became a "fair blonde".}}{{Refn|One source considers Alamoa to be a corruption of the now standard alemão, but others explain Alamao to be the more antiquated form.}} whereas older literature describes her as fulvous or tawny ({{lang|pt|{{linktext|fulva}}}}), though dressed in white, as according to {{illm|Francisco Augusto Pereira da Costa|pt}} (d. 1923).{{Refn|Costa Foclore (1908) apud Proença}}{{Refn|Legend in verse, titled:"A Alamôa", narratated by a mother: "{{lang|pt|Não saias, meu filho.. Que podes topar, de noite a «Alamóa» /E' fulva donzella,―é a fada da ilha;... De noute passeia, vestida de branco}}"}} According to one telling, on Friday nights, the rock of Pico splits and emits a light beam, followed by Alamoa's appearance, attracting men; but she will then transform into skull and skeleton,{{Refn|The skull imprisons her victim according to modern commentary.}} resulting in disappearances, except cries of terror can be occasionally heard.{{Refn|Story according to the story {{illm|Olavo Dantas|pt}}.}} The Alamoa evidently maintains an underwater palace as well.{{sfnp|Cascudo|1950|p=292}} These elements (skull, light, palace) are lacking in European (Dutch) lore,{{sfnp|Cascudo|1950|p=292}} though general similarity to Holland's mermaid has been suggested.{{sfnp|Cascudo|1950|p=289}}

In his Natural History 9.4.9–11, Pliny the Elder, remarked that a triton (merman) was seen off the coast of Olisipo (present-day Lisbon, Portugal), and it bore the physical appearance in accordance with common notion of the triton, according to a deputation from Lisbon who reported it to Emperor Tiberus. One nereid was sighted earlier on the same (Lisbon) coast. Pliny remarks that contrary to popular notion, the true nereids are not smooth-skinned in their human-like portions, but covered with scales all over the body.{{Refn|Reads "the portion of the body that resembles the human figure is still rough all over with scales" ub Bisticj and Riley's translation. This is given as "bristling with hair", in Rackham's (Loeb Classical Library translation, but {{linktext|squama}} here is probably 'scales' and the emendation is given in Hansen's rendering.}} Their mournful songs at death have also been heard by the coastal inhabitants. Also, multiple nereids had washed up on the shore according to the legatus/governor of Gaul, who informed the late Emperor Augustus about it in a letter.{{Refn|{{Verse translation

| lang =

| italicsoff =

| rtl1 =

| IV.
9 Tiberio principi nuntiavit Olisiponensium legatio ob id missa visum auditumque in quodam specu concha canentem Tritonem qua noscitur forma. et Nereidum falsa non est, squamis modo hispido corpore etiam qua humanam effigiem habent; namque haec in eodem spectata litore est, cuius morientis etiam cantum tristem accolae audivere longe; et divo Augusto legatus Galliae complures in litore apparere examines Nereidas scripsit.

| IV. Tritons, Nereid and aquatic monsters.
9 An embassy from Lisbon sent for the purpose reported to the Emperor Tiberius that a Triton had been seen and heard playing on a shell in a certain cave, and that he had the well-known shape. The description of the Nereids also is not incorrect, except that their body is bristling with hair {{sic}} even in the parts where they have human shape; for a Nereid has been seen on the same coast, whose mournful song moreover when dying has been heard a long way off by the coast-dwellers; also the Governor of Gaul wrote to the late lamented Augustus that a large number of dead Nereids were to be seen on the shore.

| attr1 = Pliny, Historia Naturalis IX.iv.9

| attr2 = translated by Harris Rackham (1958)

}}}}{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Pliny follows with an account of a "sea-man" witnessed on the Gulf of Gades (Gulf of Cádiz).}}

Sixteenth-century Swedish writer Olaus Magnus quotes the same passage from Pliny, and further notes that the nereid are said to utter "dismal moans (wailings) at the hour of her death", thus observing a connection to the legend of sea-nymphs and the sister Fates whose clashing cymbals and flute tunes could be heard on shore. Olaus in a later passage states that the nereids (tr. "mermaids") are known to "sing plaintively", in general.{{efn|i.e., not qualifying they do so at the hour of death.}}

It has been conjectured that these carcasses of nereids washed up on shore were "presumably seals".{{Refn|Cf. the conjecture in the index to the Loeb Classics Library translation that Pliny's homo marinus (merman) may refer to "African manatee (?)".}}

In 1493, sailing off the coast of Hispaniola, Christopher Columbus spotted three mermaids ({{langx|es|link=no|sirenas}}) which he said were not as beautiful as they are represented due to masculine features in their faces. He is widely believed to have seen manatees, not mermaids.{{cite book|last=Sánchez |first=Jean-Pierre |author-link= |chapter=Myths and Legends in the Old World and European Expansionism on the American Continent |title=The Classical Tradition and the Americas: European images of the Americas and the classical tradition (2 pts.) |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |year=1994 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I1LEmKPgJ8MC&pg=PA203 |page=203 |isbn=3-110-11572-7}}{{cite book|author=National Science Research Council (Guyana) |title=An International Centre for Manatee Research: Report of a Workshop Held 7-13 February 1974 |publisher=National Academies |year=1974 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qz4rAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA5 |page=5}}

During Henry Hudson's second voyage on 15 June 1608, members of his crew reported sighting a mermaid in the Arctic Ocean, either in the Norwegian or Barents Seas.

Dutch explorer David Danell during his expeditions to Greenland in 1652–54 claimed to have spotted a mermaid with "flowing hair and very beautiful", though the crew failed to capture it.

File:Bartholin(Copenhagen1854)-Hist anat-p164a-siren-top.jpg

Danish physician and natural historian Thomas Bartholin wrote about a mermaid specimen caught in Brazil (probably a manatee) and subsequently dissected at Leiden.{{Refn|name="bartholin-brazil"|Bartholin: "prope Brasiliam.. captus suit homo marinus..", but Webster: "a Sea-Man taken by the Merchants of the West-India Company..", the latter omits mention of Brazil.}} Though referred to in the text as a "sea-man" (homo marinus) from Brazil, the account was accompanied by an engraved drawing captioned "Sirene", whose appearance was that of a humanoid female with bared breasts (a mermaid).{{harvp|Scribner|2020}}: "{{URL|1=https://books.google.com/books?id=fgrtDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT101|2='Sirene'.. with certain popular features of a mermaid (exposed breasts and a humanoid face.. odd, webbed hands, buttocks at the front)}}" The specimen's body was deformed and "without the sign of a tail", matching the drawing. And "a membrane [that] join [the fingers] together" is also reflected in the drawing as well (as her webbed pair of hands/forepaws).{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Bartholin subsequently provides a textual description of a neckless siren with lactating breasts, however, that is the description from an entirely different specimen caught in the River Cuama off the Cape of Good Hope, quoted from Bernardinus Ginnarus.}}

The specimen's account and illustration was later reproduced by Linnaeus, who captioned the beast "Siren Bartholini", hence "Bartholin's Siren".

Bartholin was actually not the sole proprietor of the specimen, but he came into possession of its hand and ribs, which he also illustrated in his book (figures above).{{sfnp|Scribner|2020}}{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Bartholin describes in detail that it was caught off of Brazil by merchants of the (Dutch) West India Company, the GWC, and the dissection conducted in Leiden by Petrus Pavius (Pieter Pauw), attended by Johannes de Laet (who was director of the GWC); Bartholin was given a hand and few ribs from de Laet, as a token of friendship.}} Based on the illustration, the "hand" has been determined to be the front flipper belonging to a manatee by a team of researchers.

Bartholin himself had argued that it was a sea mammal closely related to seals (phocae).{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Bartholin writes Phocae, which is the genus, but perhaps he intended pinnipeds more broadly.}} His rationale was that since there are several marine counterparts to land mammals e.g. "sea-horses",{{efn|A "sea-horse" in reality was either walrus or sea-unicorns/narwhals, both sources for marine ivory. For water-horse as sea-unicorn, see {{harvp|Francisci|1668}}, opposite p. 1406, {{URL|1=https://books.google.com/books?id=i-RTAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA1407 |2=Plate XLVII}}.}} the possibility of a marine creature with striking likeness to humans could not be ruled out, though they should all be classified among seal-kind.

Erasmus Francisci (Erasmus Finx, 1668) associated this Brazilian specimen with the local native lore of the "Yupiapra" (Ipupiara).{{efn|cf. §Iara and Ipupiara, supra.}}

According to Frederick Coyett, the last Dutch governor of Formosa (aka Taiwan), many people saw mermaids appearing in the waters near the Fort Zeelandia during Koxinga's 17th-century attack on the Dutch. The Dutch came to the waterways to search carefully, but they were gone. It was regarded as a sign of imminent disaster.{{cite web|title=人魚出沒台灣 不幸災厄跟著來 |url=https://www.nownews.com/news/5623154 |website=NOWnews|accessdate=2023-10-11 |language=zh-tw |date=2018-07-04 |archive-date= |archive-url=}}

File:Jonston1657-Tab-XL-piscis-anthropomorphos.jpg

A type of mermaid referred to as "anthropomorphus" or "woman-fish" ({{langx|es|peche mujer}}) allegedly inhabited the Spanish-ruled Philippines, particularly in the waters around the Visayan Islands, according to contemporary writings from the seventeenth century.{{Refn|The incidents of capture and localities are as follows (the actual sources/authors will be elaborated in the citation footnotes to follow.):

• In Kircher and Jonston's writings, the place of capture is given as the Insulas Pictorum near the Visayas, namely, the "Island[s] of the Artist[s]". A group of islands within the Visayas (including e.g. (Mindoro) was known as the Islas de los Pintados ('Islands of the Painted People'). Therefore referring to the locality as somewher within the present-day Visayas The Dutch translation rendered the islands, not as "the Islands of the Painted/Painters", but as "the Picten Islands", in turn understood to mean "the Islands of the Picts".
• Colin identified the habitat as the Philippine waters and Malacca (Strait of Malacca).
• Nvarette while visiting Mindro (aforementioned island), writes of the abundance of fish and the presence of "woman-fish" under the heading o NanboanNanboan (namely Nauján).).}}

The accounts are found in several books, on various topics from magnetism, to natural history, to ecclesiastical history.{{Refn|Athanasius Kircher Magnes sive De arte magnetica (1641), whose account is reiterated in Johannes Jonston Historiae naturalis de piscibus et cetis libri 5 (in Latin, 1657; Dutch translation Beschryvingh van de Natuur der Vissen en bloedloze Water-dieren, 1660). Also {{interlanguage link|Francisco Colín|es}} (1663) Labor evangelica, Domingo Fernández Navarrete Tratados historicos, politicos, ethicos, y religiosos de la monarchia de China (1676).}}

These books refer to the mermaid/merman as "piscis anthropomorphos" ({{langx|nl|Anthropomorphus}}),{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Kircher's Latin text actually resorts to writing out "piscis ανθρωπόμορφος" partly in Greek (Greek ligature is used for the final omicron-sigma). Jonston's Latin version uses "anthropomorphos"; the Dutch translator changed this to "-morphus" in the text, though the caption remained "-phos" in the engraving.}} and emphasize how human-like they appear in their upper bodies, as well as providing woodcut or etchings illustrating the male and female of the part-human part-fish creature.

The "woman-fish" (or {{lang|es|peche mujer}} in modern Spanish){{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|In the primary sources, variously spelt in

Middle Spanish as {{lang|es|peche muger}}, {{lang|es|pez muller, pexe muller}}, etc.}}) was the name given to the creature among the Spaniards, but the sources also state it was called "duyon" by the indigenous people.{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|The word is "duyong" in the Ilongo (Hiligaynon) or Palawano language of the Bisayans.}} and it is assumed the actual creature was a dugong (according to modern translators' notes).{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|According to Navarrete, an indigenous man had confessed to having nightly sexual intercourse with a piscis mulier or pexemulier "said to resemble a woman from the breasts down" .}}

Several of these sources mention the medical use of the woman-fish to control the flow of blood (or the four humours). It was effective for staunching the bleeding, i.e., effective against hemorrhages, according to Jonston.{{Refn|Appropriating "remedy for hemorrhages" which is Castiglioni's paraphrase{{sfnp|Castiglioni|2021|p=22}} of {{interlanguage link|Ōtsuki Gentaku|ja|大槻玄沢}} writing {{nihongo|shiketsu|止血/血を止む|extra='stop the bleeding'}} in his Japanese translation of Johnston.Otsuki Gentaku (1786) Rokumotsu shinshi, fols. 24–[https://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/2555433/28 25]}} Other sources mention the ability to stop bleeding, e.g. Colín,{{harvp|Cummins|2017|p=82}}, footnote. who also thought that the Philippine woman-fish tasted like fatty pork.{{Refn|Colín, on the "Pez Muller" (marginalia) or "Pexe Muller/Duyon" (text): "me pareciò su carne como de torcino gordo"}} The bones were made into beads (i.e., strung together), as it was believed effective against {{linktext|defluxion}}s (of the humours).{{Refn|Navarrete, Cummins tr.: "{{URL|1=https://books.google.com/books?id=-gckDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT129 |2=singular virtue against Defluxions}}".}}

{{multiple image

| align = right

| direction = vertical

| header = Renard's illustrated book of marine life

| width = 300

| image1 = Renard-2nd-ed-1754(Mich U)-Pl057-n240-monstre-ou-sirenne.jpg

| alt1 = Mermaid in Renard's marine animal book

| caption1 = "Monster or Siren (mermaid)"{{sfnp|Pietsch|1991|p=7–9}}{{right|{{small|―Louis Renard Poissons, ecrevisses et crabes.. autour des isles Moluques et sur les côtes des terres Australes, 2nd edition, 1754}}}}

| image2 = Renard-2nd-ed-1754(Mich U)-Fol034-n180-dugong.jpg

| caption2 = A dugong (ditto book)

| alt2 = Mermaid in Renard's marine animal book

}}

Allegedly captured in the Moluccas in the seventeenth century was the so-called "Amboina mermaid" (after the then Dutch Province of Ambon),e.g. {{harvp|Carrington|1957|pp=xi, 11}}{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Later it was no longer a Dutch Province. Bassett (1892) renamed her the "Molucca siren",{{sfnp|Bassett|1892|p=191}} but that name does not seem to have wide circulation.}} which its leading researcher has referred to as Samuel Fallours's "Sirenne", after the man who came into possession of it and made an original painting of it in full color.{{sfnp|Pietsch|1991|pp=12–13}}

The painting was reproduced by Louis Renard on the "Fish" of the region, first published in 1719,{{Refn|Louis Renard(1678/79–1746).Poissons, ecrevisses et crabes, de diverses couleurs et figures extraordinaires: que l'on trouve autour des isles Moluques et sur les côtes des terres Australes ('Fish, [Lobsters], Crabs, in Various Colors and Extraordinary Shapes, as Found in the Moluccas and on the Coasts of Australia', first edition 1719, second edition 1754.{{sfnp|Pietsch|1991|pp=5, 7}}{{Refn|name="hayward-fallours"|Hayward (2018), pp. 93–94, citing {{harvp|Pietsch|1991}}}}{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|color illustrations engraved copper plates, hand-painted in color.}} of various marine organisms of the Moluccas region, including this mermaid.{{sfnp|Pietsch|1991|pp=5, 7}}}}

It was supposedly caught by Boeren in Ambon Province (Buru, in present-day Maluku Province),{{sfnp|Pietsch|1991|pp=7, 13}} presumably around the years 1706–1712,{{Refn|name="hayward-fallours"}} or perhaps the year 1712 precisely.{{Refn|name="valentijn-apud-pietsch"|According to Valentijn/Valentyn (1726), Oud en Nieuw Oost-Indiën, 3, Part 1, pp. 331–332 quoted in English translation in {{harvp|Pietsch|1991|p=7}}.}} During this period, Fallours served briefly as soldier for the VOC (Dutch East India Company) starting June 1706, but turned associate curate (Krankbezoeker) for the Dutch Reformed Church (September 1706 to June 1712).{{sfnp|Pietsch|1991|pp=1, 15}}

Fallour's mermaid with additional details were described by François Valentijn in a 1726 book.{{Refn|François Valentyn, Oud en Nieuw Oost-Indiën, vol. 3.}}{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Valentijn was also a minister of the church, mostly in the employ of the VOC; he was minister in Ambon at age 19 from 1685 for a decade, and was stationed again in Java 1705–1714. but was minister in Dorchrecht, Netherlands by 1916 when Renard corresponded with him seeking help for his book,{{sfnp|Pietsch|1991|p=7}} and he compiled his own book while in the Netherlands.}}

The mermaid was 59 Dutch inches ({{lang|nl|duimen}}) long, or 5 feet in Rhineland measures. She reportedly survived 4 days 7 hours in a water tank, and died after refusing food it was given, having uttered no intelligible sound,{{Refn|name="valentijn-apud-pietsch"}} or issuing sounds like screechings of a mouse. Something like a straw cape (Japanese mino) appears wrapped around her waist in the painting according to one commentator, but Fallours revealed in his notes that he lifted the front and back fins and "[found] it was shaped like a woman".{{harvp|Hayward|2018a|p=93}}; {{harvp|Pietsch|1991|p=5}}: "I had the curiosity to lift its fins in front and in back and [found] it was shaped like a woman. Mr. Van der Stel asked me for it and I gave it to him . I think he sent it to Holland". (English tr.)

The mermaid was suspected to be a dugong in reality, even by contemporary scholars such as Georg Rumphius, although Valentijn was unable to believe they were the one and the same.{{sfnp|Pietsch|1991|p=12}} Leading researcher Theodore W. Pietsch{{efn|And editor of the English edition of Renard's work.}} concurs with the dugong identification, but an ichthyologist has opined that "I could more easily accept a small oar-fish, or another eel-like fish, rather than a dugong as a partial basis for the drawing", noting that Renard's book carries an illustration of a plausibly realistic dugong as well.

The Yuezhong jianwen ({{zh|t=粵中見聞|w=Yueh-chung-chieh-wen}}; "Seens and Heards", or "Jottings on the South of China", 1730) contains two accounts concerning mermaids. In the first, a man captures a mermaid ({{zh|海女|labels=no}} "sea woman") on the shore of Lantau Island ({{zh|大嶼山|w=Taiyü-shan}}). She looks human in every respect except that her body is covered with fine hair of many colors. She cannot talk, but he takes her home and marries her. After his death, the mermaid returns to the sea where she was found. In the second story, a man sees a woman lying on the beach while his ship was anchored offshore. On closer inspection, her feet and hands appear to be webbed. She is carried to the water, and expresses her gratitude toward the sailors before swimming away.{{cite book|last=Dennys |first=Nicholas Belfield |title=The Folk-Lore of China, and Its Affinities with That of the Aryan and Semitic Races |publisher=Trübner and Co |year=1876 |url=https://archive.org/details/folklorechinaan00denngoog |pages=[https://archive.org/details/folklorechinaan00denngoog/page/n131 114]–115}}{{cite book |editor-last=Fan |editor-first=Duan'ang 范端昂 |title=Yuezhong jianwen |script-title=zh:粤中见闻 |place=Guangdong |publisher=Guangdonggaodeng jiaoyu chubanshe |year=1988 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aT8yAAAAMAAJ |page=134|isbn=9787536100862 }}

Two sightings were reported in Canada near Vancouver and Victoria, one from sometime between 1870 and 1890, the other from 1967.{{Citation|url=http://www.tourismvictoria.com/Content/EN/747.asp |title=Myths & Legends |publisher=Tourism Victoria |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081016154451/http://www.tourismvictoria.com/Content/EN/747.asp |archive-date=16 October 2008 }}{{cite web|url=http://folklore.bc.ca/british-columbia-mermaids/ |title = Folklore Examples in British Columbia |publisher=Folklore |date=11 January 2009 |access-date=24 April 2012}} A Pennsylvania fisherman reported five sightings of a mermaid in the Susquehanna River near Marietta in June 1881.{{cite news |url=http://www.yorkblog.com/yorkspast/2014/05/27/a-mermaid-in-the-susquehanna/ |title=A Mermaid in the Susquehanna |date=8 June 1881 |newspaper=York Daily |access-date=2 January 2016 |department=YorksPast |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150919101147/http://www.yorkblog.com/yorkspast/2014/05/27/a-mermaid-in-the-susquehanna/ |archive-date=19 September 2015 |url-status=dead }}

File:Mermaid skeleton.jpg]]

In August 2009, after dozens of people reported seeing a mermaid leaping out of Haifa Bay waters and doing aerial tricks, the Israeli coastal town of Kiryat Yam offered a $1 million award for proof of its existence.{{cite news|url=http://haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1107034.html |title=Is a Mermaid Living Under the Sea in Kiryat Yam? |newspaper=Haaretz |date=12 August 2009 |access-date=22 September 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100107203643/http://haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1107034.html |archive-date=7 January 2010 }}

In February 2012, work on two reservoirs near Gokwe and Mutare in Zimbabwe stopped when workers refused to continue, stating that mermaids had hounded them away from the sites. It was reported by Samuel Sipepa Nkomo, the water resources minister.{{cite web|url=https://www.voazimbabwe.com/a/zimbabwe-mermaids-problem-for-water-minister-138664059/1467126.html|title='Mermaid' Sightings in Zimbabwe Spark Debate Over Traditional Beliefs|date=3 February 2012|website=VOA |access-date=17 May 2020}}

{{See also|Merman#Hoaxes and sideshows}}

{{Main|Feejee mermaid}}

File:Feejee mermaid.jpg's Fiji mermaid (1842)]]

A celebrated example of mermaid hoax was the Fiji mermaid exhibited in London in 1822{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|This specimen had been on display inside a jar at the Turf Coffee-house, St. James's Street as illustrated in an etching of it was made by artist George Cruikshank.}} and later in America by P. T. Barnum in 1842;{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Although the exhibitors called it "mermaid", the gender (as to the monkey port or fish part used) is probably unclear, and one newspaper renames it "Barnum's merman".{{cite news |last=Babin |first=Tom |author-link= |title=Up close and personal with the Banff Merman at the Banff Indian Trading Post |date=28 September 2012 |newspaper=Calgary Herald |url=http://www.calgaryherald.com/close+personal+with+Banff+Merman+Banff+Indian+Trading+Post/7316708/story.html |access-date=23 August 2019 |archive-date=8 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190908061002/http://www.calgaryherald.com/close+personal+with+Banff+Merman+Banff+Indian+Trading+Post/7316708/story.html |url-status=dead }}}}{{cite book|last=Bondeson |first=Jan |author-link=Jan Bondeson |chapter=The Feejee mermaid |title=The Feejee mermaid and other essays in natural and unnatural history |publisher=Cornell University Press |location=Ithaca, NY |year=1999 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A4dXDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA36 |pages=x, 38–40 |isbn=0-801-43609-5}} in this case an investigator claims to have traced the mermaid's manufacture to a Japanese fisherman.{{sfnp|Bondeson|1999|pp=61–62}}

File:Baien-gyofu-033-ningyo-crop.jpg

Fake mermaids made in China and the Malay Archipelago out of monkey and fish parts were imported into Europe by Dutch traders since the mid-sixteenth century, and their manufactures are thought to go back earlier.{{cite journal|last=Gudger |first=E. W. |author-link= |title=Jenny Hanivers, Dragons and Basilisks in the Old Natural History Books and in Modern Times |journal=The Scientific Monthly |volume=38 |issue=6 |year=1934 |page=512}} {{JSTOR|15490}} The manufacture of mermaids from monkey and fish parts also occurred in Japan, especially in the Kyūshū region, as a souvenir industry targeting foreigners.{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Marine biologist Hondo comments that the Japanese souvenirs tended to use a group of fish shaped like the suzuki (Japanese sea bass), and asserts that in Canton, China, the type of fish used were Cyprinids (carp family), Nibea mitsukurii, and the giant mottled eel. The mermaid drawn by Cruikshank (i.e., the Fiji mermaid) is speculated to be "concocted from a blue-faced monkey and a salmon".}} Mōri Baien painted full color illustrations of such a compositely manufactured ningyo specimen in his ichthyological tract (1825). For much of the Edo Period, Nagasaki (in Kyūshū) was the only trade port open to foreign countries, and the only place where non-Japanese aliens could reside. Jan Cock Blomhoff, the Dutch East India Company director stationed in Dejima, Nagasaki is known to have acquired merfolk mummies; these and other specimens are now held in the National Museum of Ethnology in Leiden, Netherlands.{{sfnp|Viscardi|Hollinshead|MacFarlane|Moffat|2014|p=102}}{{sfnp|Yamaguchi|2010|p=98}}

File:Mashhad museum PARI DARYAEI.jpg" ({{langx|fa|شیطان دریا}}) fish, Mashhad Museum, Iran.]]

The equivalent industry in Europe was the Jenny Haniver made from dried rays.{{cite journal|last=Ley |first=Willy |author-link=Willy Ley |title=Basilisk and Jenny Haniver |journal=4H-Horizons |volume=3 |year=1939 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rSNGAAAAYAAJ&q="Jenny+Haniver" |page=22}}; reprinted in The Lungfish, the Dodo, and the Unicorn (New York: Viking, 1948), pp. 57–66: "And then there existed a European equivalent to the Eastern Mermaid, the 'Jenny Haniver'  ..."

In the middle of the seventeenth century, John Tradescant the elder created a wunderkammer (called Tradescant's Ark) in which he displayed, among other things, a "mermaid's hand".{{cite book|last=Yanni|first= Carla |title =Nature's Museums: Victorian Science and the Architecture of Display|year=2005|publisher= Princeton Architectural Press|location=New York|isbn=1-56898-472-3|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=nT3hJxTKoeEC&pg=PA20 |edition=1st pbk. | page=20}}

Scantily clad women placed in watertanks and impersonating mermaids performed at the 1939 New York World's Fair. It was part of the "Dream of Venus" installation by Surrealist artist Salvador Dalí. The mermaid interacted with Oscar the Obscene Octopus, and the ongoings were portrayed in E. L. Doctorow's novel World's Fair.

Professional female divers have performed as mermaids at Florida's Weeki Wachee Springs since 1947. The state park calls itself "The Only City of Live Mermaids"{{cite news | last = Connolly | first = Kevin P. | url = https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2012/07/05/weeki-wachee-mermaids-other-aquatic-humanoids-are-unreal-feds-say/ | title = Florida mermaids not real: Weeki Wachee mermaids, other 'aquatic humanoids' are unreal, feds say | newspaper = Orlando Sentinel | date = 5 July 2012 | access-date = 26 July 2012 | archive-date = 18 May 2013 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130518142942/http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2012-07-05/news/os-florida-mermaids-weeki-wachee-20120705_1_mermaids-website-atmospheric-administration | url-status = live }} and was extremely popular in the 1960s, drawing almost one million tourists per year.{{cite magazine|last=Schiller |first= Jakob |url = https://www.wired.com/rawfile/2012/04/professional-mermaids-are-lost-treasure-of-florida-park/ |title=Professional Mermaids Are Lost Treasure of Florida Park | magazine = Wired |date=20 April 2012 |access-date=26 July 2012}} Most of the current performers work part-time while attending college, and all are certified Scuba divers. They wear fabric tails and perform aquatic ballet (while holding their breath) for an audience in an underwater stage with glass walls. Children often ask if the "mermaids" are real. The park's PR director says, "Just like with Santa Claus or any other mythical character, we always say yes. We're not going to tell them they're not real".{{cite web|last=Abbey |first=Melissa |url=http://articles.cnn.com/2012-07-05/us/us_mermaids-noaa_1_weeki-wachee-springs-noaa-atmospheric-administration?_s=PM:US |title=Mermaids don't exist... or do they? |publisher=CNN|date=5 July 2012 |access-date=26 July 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120725164446/http://articles.cnn.com/2012-07-05/us/us_mermaids-noaa_1_weeki-wachee-springs-noaa-atmospheric-administration?_s=PM%3AUS |archive-date=25 July 2012 }}

The Ama are Japanese skin divers, predominantly women, who traditionally dive for shellfish and seaweed wearing only a loincloth and who have been in action for at least 2,000 years. Starting in the twentieth century, they have increasingly been regarded as a tourist attraction. They operate off reefs near the shore, and some perform for sightseers instead of diving to collect a harvest. They have been romanticized as mermaids.{{cite book|last= Stott|first= Rebecca|title= Oyster|year= 2004 | publisher = Reaktion Books|location=London|isbn=978-1-86189-221-8|page=194|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=3qx2ELi_roMC&pg=PA194}}

The topic of mermaids in earnest has arisen in several instances of scientific scrutiny, including a biological assessment of the unlikelihood of the supposed evolutionary biology of the mermaid on the popular marine science website DeepSeaNews. Five of the primary reasons listed as to why mermaids do not fit current evolutionary understanding are:

• thermoregulation (adaptations for regulating body heat);
• evolutionary mismatch;
• reproductive challenges;
• digestive differences between mammals and fish;
• lack of physical evidence.{{cite web |url=http://www.deepseanews.com/2013/10/fishful-thinking-five-reasons-why-mermaids-cant-physically-exist/ |title=Five Reasons Why Mermaids Can't Physically Exist |first=Sheanna |last=Steingass |website=DeepSeaNews |date=30 October 2013 |access-date=17 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190307201459/http://www.deepseanews.com/2013/10/fishful-thinking-five-reasons-why-mermaids-cant-physically-exist/ |archive-date=7 March 2019 |url-status=dead }}

Mermaids were also discussed {{linktext|tongue-in-cheek}} in a scientific article by University of Washington emeritus oceanographer Karl Banse.{{cite journal |url=http://web.uvic.ca/~starzom/Banse1990_MermaidBiology.pdf |title=Mermaids{{Snd}} Their Biology, Culture, and Demise |first=Karl |last=Banse |journal= Limnology and Oceanography|date=January 1990 |volume=35 |number=1 |access-date=17 March 2019 |pages=148–153 |doi=10.4319/lo.1990.35.1.0148 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120916235532/http://web.uvic.ca/~starzom/Banse1990_MermaidBiology.pdf |archive-date=16 September 2012|bibcode=1990LimOc..35..148B }} His article was written as a parody, but mistaken as a true scientific exposé by believers as it was published in a scientific journal.

The mermaid is a harbinger of shipwreck in English-Scottish balladry, though the attestation (Child ballad 289), dates no older than the 18th century. No analogues were found by Child outside the English language, though versions were transmitted to America.

In Norway the {{lang|no|havfrue}} was considered the harbinger of "storm and bad weather"{{sfnp|Faye|1833|p=59}} ({{section link||Omen, prophecy and wisdom}} under Scandinavian Folklore).

The notion of the mermaid signifying bad omen is both Western and Eastern.{{harvp|Ōbayashi|1979|p=68}}: "{{lang|ja|人魚は洋の東西をとわず、概して不吉な存在で、悲劇の主人公である}} The mermaid is both in the East and West, generally an unlucky presence and the protagonist of tragedy". A number of such omens were recorded in Japan by the Kamakura shogunate, for example, the entry in the Azuma kagami for 1247 (Hōji 1) records a beaching of a "big fish" (as it was called here), tied to the {{illm|Battle of Hōji|ja|宝治合戦}} the same year{{sfnp|Castiglioni|2021|p=13}}.{{harvp|Ōbayashi|1979|pp=68–69}} gives two examples, one from Bunji 5/1189 and another from Kanpō 3/1743, which is later during the Tokugawa shogunate (Cf. {{section link|ningyo|Kamakura and Muromachi periods}} for additional examples).

{{Expand section|date=July 2022}}

According to Dorothy Dinnerstein's book The Mermaid and the Minotaur, human-animal hybrids such as mermaids and minotaurs convey the emergent understanding of ancient peoples that humans were both one with and different from animals:

{{blockquote|[Human] nature is internally inconsistent, that our continuities with, and our differences from, the earth's other animals are mysterious and profound; and in these continuities, and these differences, lie both a sense of strangeness on earth and the possible key to a way of feeling at home here.{{Citation|first=Dorothy |last=Dinnerstein |author-link=Dorothy Dinnerstein |title=The Mermaid and the Minotaur |place=New York | publisher=Harper & Row |year=1963}}. Cited by {{Citation |title=Mermaids |contribution=History |url=http://northstargallery.com/mermaids/MermaidHistory2.htm |publisher=Northstar Gallery |access-date=20 December 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061213040757/http://northstargallery.com/mermaids/MermaidHistory2.htm |archive-date=13 December 2006 |url-status=dead }}.}}

{{See also|Mermaids in popular culture}}

File:Rhinegold and the Valkyries p 072.jpg, Rhinemaidens, from The Rhinegold & The Valkyrie (1910).]]

File:Vanity Fair D467.png's Becky Sharp as a man-killing mermaid, by the work's author William Thackeray.]]

The best-known example of mermaids in literature is probably Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale, "The Little Mermaid", first published in 1837. The title character, youngest of the Merman-king's daughters, falls in love with a human prince{{Efn|The prince remains unacquainted with her, despite being saved by her from a shipwreck. The mermaid had brought him ashore unconscious and then hid behind rocks and covered herself in foam to hide.}} and also longs for an eternal soul like humans, despite the shorter lifespan. The two cravings are intertwined: only by achieving true love will her soul bind with a human's and become everlasting. But the mermaid's fish-tail poses an insurmountable obstacle for enticing humans, and a sea-witch offers a potion to transform into human form, at a price (the mermaid's tongue and beautiful voice). The mermaid endures the excruciating pain of having human legs, and despite her inability to speak, almost succeeds in wedding the prince, but for a twist of fate.{{Efn|The prince is betrothed to a princess, who turns out to be the girl he mistakenly believed to be his rescuer (due to the mermaid's concealment).}} The mermaid is doomed unless she stabs the prince with a magic knife on his wedding night. She refuses to harm him and dies the mermaid way, dissolving into foam. However, her selflessness has earned her a second chance at salvation, and she is resurrected as an air spirit.{{cite book|first=Hans Christian |last=Andersen |author-link=Hans Christian Andersen

|translator=Robert Nisbet Bain |translator-link=Robert Nisbet Bain |others=Illustrated by John Reinhard Weguelin |chapter=The Little Mermaid |title=The Little Mermaid and Other Stories |publisher=Lawrence and Bullen |location=London |date=1893 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ezZDAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA1 |pages=1–36}}

Andersen's works has been translated into over 100 languages.{{cite book|title=Biographical dictionary of literary influences: the nineteenth century, 1800–1914|year=2001|publisher=Greenwood Press | location =Westport, CT| isbn= 978-0-313-30422-4|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=3N3uj_wo-_kC&pg=PA20| editor-first =John | editor-last = Powell |page= 20}} One of the main literary influences for Andersen's mermaid was Undine, an earlier German novella about a water nymph who could only obtain an immortal soul by marrying a human.{{cite book| last= Brandes|first= George Morris Cohen|title= The Romantic School in Germany (1873) | year =1902|publisher=The Macmillan Co |location=New York|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=UUbZAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA301|page=301}} Andersen's heroine inspired a bronze sculpture in Copenhagen harbour and influenced Western literary works such as Oscar Wilde's The Fisherman and His Soul and H. G. Wells' The Sea Lady.{{cite book |last=Wullschläger |first=Jackie |author-link=Jackie Wullschläger |url=https://archive.org/details/hanschristianand0000wull |title=Hans Christian Andersen: the life of a storyteller |publisher=University of Chicago Press |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-226-91747-4 |location=Chicago, IL |page=[https://archive.org/details/hanschristianand0000wull/page/176 176] |url-access=registration}}

Sue Monk Kidd wrote a book called The Mermaid Chair loosely based on the legends of Saint Senara and the mermaid of Zennor.

Sculptures and statues of mermaids can be found in many countries and cultures, with over 130 public art mermaid statues across the world. Countries with public art mermaid sculptures include Russia, Finland, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Denmark, Norway, England, Scotland, Ireland, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Spain, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Greece, Turkey, India, China, Thailand, South Korea, Japan, Guam, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Ecuador, Colombia, Mexico, the Cayman Islands, Mexico, Saudi Arabia (Jeddah), the United States (including Hawaii and the U.S. Virgin Islands) and Canada.{{Citation | type = map | title = Mermaids of Earth | url = http://www.mermaidsofearth.com/}}. Some of these mermaid statues have become icons of their city or country, and are major tourist attractions in themselves. The Little Mermaid statue in Copenhagen is an icon of that city as well as of Denmark. The Havis Amanda statue symbolizes the rebirth of the city of Helsinki. The Syrenka (mermaid) is part of the coat of Arms of Warsaw, and is considered a protector of Warsaw, which publicly displays statues of their mermaid.

An influential image was created by the Pre-Raphaelite painter John William Waterhouse, from 1895 to 1905, entitled A Mermaid (Cf. figure, top of page). An example of late British Academy-style artwork, the piece debuted to considerable acclaim (and secured Waterhouse's place as a member of the Royal Academy), but disappeared into a private collection and did not resurface until the 1970s. It is currently once again in the Royal Academy's collection.{{Citation | author-link = Elizabeth Prettejohn | last = Prettejohn | first = Elizabeth | display-authors = etal | year = 2008 | title = J. W. Waterhouse: The Modern Pre-Raphaelite | page = 144 | publisher = Thames & Hudson | place = London | isbn = 978-90-8586-490-5}}. Waterhouse's mermaid grooms her hair with comb and mirror, the stereotypical implements of the mermaid, likely designed to portray her as temptress, and her red hair (auburn hair) is a match for the hair colour of Venus.{{efn|And the comb and mirror were originally associated with Aphrodite/Venus, as Fraser points out here.}} Waterhouses's The Siren (1900) also depicts the siren as a mermaid of sorts, representing the femme fatale{{harvp|Kestner|1989|p=300}}, the exact language is "jeune fille fatale". drawing men to destruction. In the modern age of course, the word "siren" is used as a synonym of femme fatale.

Mermaids were a favorite subject of John Reinhard Weguelin, a contemporary of Waterhouse. He painted an image of the mermaid of Zennor as well as several other depictions of mermaids in watercolour.

Musical depictions of mermaids include those by Felix Mendelssohn in his Fair Melusina overture and the three "Rhine daughters" in Richard Wagner's opera Der Ring des Nibelungen. Lorelei, the name of a Rhine mermaid immortalized in the Heinrich Heine poem of that name, has become a synonym for a siren. The Weeping Mermaid is an orchestral piece by Taiwanese composer Fan-Long Ko.{{cite web |last=Chiu |first=Felicity Fei-Hsien |date=16 July 2010 |title=Taiwan New Sound Concert–Requiem for the 228 Incident |url=http://www.wretch.cc/blog/phesha0822/13941275 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121027123219/http://www.wretch.cc/blog/phesha0822/13941275 |archive-date=27 October 2012 |access-date=24 July 2012 |publisher=Wretch}}

Film depictions include Miranda (1948), Night Tide (1961), the romantic comedy Splash (1984), and Aquamarine (2006). A 1963 episode of the television series Route 66 entitled "The Cruelest Sea of All" featured a mermaid performance artist working at Weeki Wachee aquatic park. Mermaids also appeared in the popular supernatural drama television series Charmed. In She Creature (2001), two carnival workers abduct a mermaid in Ireland {{Circa|1900}} and attempt to transport her to America. The film Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides mixes old and new myths about mermaids: singing to sailors to lure them to their death, growing legs when taken onto dry land, and bestowing kisses with magical healing properties.

Disney's musical animated version of Andersen's tale, The Little Mermaid, was released in 1989.{{Citation| last = Moore| first = Roger| title = After the Magic; Scores of Former Disney Animators and Their Colleagues Have Dispersed to Launch Their Own Studios, Seek New Careers and Discover New Identities{{Snd}} Determined to Land on Their Feet | newspaper = Orlando Sentinel| pages = F1| date = 20 June 2004| url = https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/orlandosentinel/access/653286501.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Jun+20%2C+2004&author=Roger+Moore%2C+Sentinel+Movie+Critic&pub=Orlando+Sentinel&edition=&startpage=F.1&desc=AFTER+THE+MAGIC+%3B+SCORES+OF+FORMER+DISNEY+ANIMATORS+AND+THEIR+COLLEAGUES+HAVE+DISPERSED+TO+LAUNCH+THEIR+OWN+STUDIOS%2C+SEEK+NEW+CAREERS+AND+DISCOVER+NEW+IDENTITIES+--+DETERMINED+TO+LAND+ON+THEIR+FEET.| access-date = 8 May 2010| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121107224831/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/orlandosentinel/access/653286501.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Jun+20%2C+2004&author=Roger+Moore%2C+Sentinel+Movie+Critic&pub=Orlando+Sentinel&edition=&startpage=F.1&desc=AFTER+THE+MAGIC+%3B+SCORES+OF+FORMER+DISNEY+ANIMATORS+AND+THEIR+COLLEAGUES+HAVE+DISPERSED+TO+LAUNCH+THEIR+OWN+STUDIOS%2C+SEEK+NEW+CAREERS+AND+DISCOVER+NEW+IDENTITIES+--+DETERMINED+TO+LAND+ON+THEIR+FEET.| archive-date = 7 November 2012}}{{cite web| website=IGN| date=3 October 2006| title=Double Dip Digest: The Little Mermaid| url=http://dvd.ign.com/articles/737/737058p1.html| access-date=23 December 2009| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090402194119/http://dvd.ign.com/articles/737/737058p1.html |archive-date=2 April 2009 |url-status=dead}} Notable changes to Andersen's story include removing the religious aspects of the fairy tale, including the mermaid's quest to obtain an immortal soul. The sea-witch herself replaces the princess to whom the prince becomes engaged, using the mermaid's voice to prevent her from obtaining the prince's love. However, on their wedding day the plot is revealed and the sea-witch is vanquished. The knife motif is not used in the film, which ends with the mermaid and the prince marrying.Walt Disney Studios, The Little Mermaid (film, 1989).

Hayao Miyazaki's Ponyo is an animated film about a ningyo who wants to become a human girl with the help of her human friend Sosuke.

The Australian teen dramedy H₂O: Just Add Water chronicles the adventures of three modern-day mermaids along the Gold Coast of Australia.

The Starbucks coffee logo is a melusine.{{Citation needed|date=August 2022}}

File:POL Warszawa COA 1.svg]]

In heraldry, the charge of a mermaid is commonly represented with a comb and a mirror,{{cite book | title = Fourteenth Century England | volume = 2|year= 2002| publisher= The Boydell Press| location= Woodbridge, UK | isbn = 0-85115-891-9|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7-qRZK9YXDgC&pg=PA121| editor-first =Chris | editor-last = Given-Wilson|page=121}}{{cite book |author-link=Arthur Fox-Davies |last=Fox-Davies |first=Arthur |title=A Complete Guide to Heraldry |publisher=T.C. and E.C. Jack |location=London |date=1909 |page=227 |url=https://archive.org/details/completeguidetoh00foxduoft |via=Internet Archive}} and blazoned as a "mermaid in her vanity".{{cite web|url=http://history.westkingdom.org/RoyaltyArms/WestPart5.htm |title=The History of the Kingdom of The West: Royalty |publisher=West kingdom |access-date=24 July 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130225112758/http://history.westkingdom.org/RoyaltyArms/WestPart5.htm |archive-date=25 February 2013 }} In addition to vanity, mermaids are also a symbol of eloquence.{{cite book|last=Sloan Evans |first=William |author-link= |title=A Grammar of British Heraldry |publisher=J. R. Smith |year= 1854 |location= London |url= https://archive.org/details/agrammarbritish00evagoog| page = [https://archive.org/details/agrammarbritish00evagoog/page/n191 145]}}

Mermaids appear with greater frequency as heraldic devices than mermen do. A merman and a mermaid are depicted on the coat of arms of Schouwen-Duiveland. A mermaid appears on the arms of the University of Birmingham, in addition to those of several British families.

A mermaid with two tails is referred to as a melusine. Melusines appear in German heraldry, and less frequently in the British version.

A shield and sword-wielding mermaid (Syrenka) is on the official coat of arms of Warsaw.{{cite web | url = http://www.ucl.ac.uk/atlas/polish/mywarsaw/warsaw10.html | publisher = UCL | location = UK | title = The Mermaid | access-date = 11 February 2008 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080310204657/http://www.ucl.ac.uk/atlas/polish/mywarsaw/warsaw10.html | archive-date = 10 March 2008 | url-status = dead }} Images of a mermaid have symbolized Warsaw on its arms since the middle of the fourteenth century.{{cite web | url = http://www.um.warszawa.pl/v_syrenka/perelki/index_en.php?mi_id=47&dz_id=2 | title = Warsaw Mermaid's Statue | access-date = 10 July 2008 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20081207092210/http://www.um.warszawa.pl/v_syrenka/perelki/index_en.php?mi_id=47&dz_id=2 | archive-date = 7 December 2008 }} Several legends associate Triton of Greek mythology with the city, which may have been the origin of the mermaid's association.{{cite web | url = http://www.e-warsaw.pl/miasto/herb-1.htm | title = History of Warsaw's Coat of Arms | work = e-Warsaw | access-date = 10 July 2008 | archive-date = 29 May 2008 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080529212011/http://www.e-warsaw.pl/miasto/herb-1.htm | url-status = dead }}

The Cusack family crest includes a mermaid wielding a sword, as depicted on a memorial stone for Sir Thomas Cusack (1490–1571).{{cite journal | last = Hickey | first = Elizabeth | author-link = Elizabeth Hickey | title = Monument to Sir Thomas Cusack | journal = Records of Meath Archaeological & Historical Society | year = 1971 | volume = IV | issue = 5 | pages = 76, 84 | publisher = Meath Archaeological & Historical Society | location = Meath, Ireland }}

Mermaids appear on the coat of arms of Ustka, Białobrzegi and Białobrzegi County (Poland), Seeboden am Millstätter See (Austria), Bray (Ireland), Santa Colomba de Curueño, Ruente, Bertizarana, Villanueva de la Serena (Spain), Päijät-Häme (Finland), Åsgårdstrand (Norway), Royat, Xammes, Lancieux, Erquy, Chens-sur-Léman, Didenheim, Wimereux (France), Eemsmond, Makkum, Uithuizermeeden (Netherlands), Waasmunster (Belgium), and Westerdeichstrich (Germany). The city of Norfolk, Virginia also uses a mermaid as a symbol.{{Cite web |title=Mermaid History {{!}} City of Norfolk, Virginia - Official Website |url=https://www.norfolk.gov/3865/History |access-date=2024-09-07 |website=www.norfolk.gov}} The personal coat of arms of Michaëlle Jean, former Governor General of Canada, features two mermaids as supporters.{{cite web|url=https://www.gg.ca/en/heraldry/public-register/project/929 |website=Canadian Heraldic Authority |title=The Public Register of Arms, Flags, and Badges of Canada |first=Michaëlle |last=Jean |publisher=Queen's Printer for Canada |date=20 September 2005 |access-date=10 January 2024 }}

Interest in mermaid costuming has grown with the popularity of fantasy cosplay, as well as the availability of inexpensive monofins used in the construction of these costumes. The costumes are typically designed to be used while swimming, in an activity known as mermaiding. Mermaid fandom conventions have also been held.{{cite news |url=http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2011/aug/14/photos-mermaid-convention-and-awards-silverton-cas/ |title=Photos: Mermaid convention breaks record(s), returns to L.V. next year |first1=Don |last1=Chareuncy |first2=Robin |last2=Leach |author-link2=Robin Leach |date=14 August 2011 |newspaper=Las Vegas Sun |access-date=1 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120911080517/http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2011/aug/14/photos-mermaid-convention-and-awards-silverton-cas/ |archive-date=11 September 2012 |url-status=dead }}{{cite news |url=http://www.orlandosentinel.com/travel/os-merpalooza-convention-pictures-20120811,0,6329605.photogallery |newspaper=Orlando Sentinel |title=Photos: Mer-Palooza Mermaid Convention in Orlando |last=Cruey |first=Joshua C. |date=11 August 2012 |access-date=1 October 2012}}

{{gallery|mode=packed

|File:A most strange and true report of a monsterous fish. 1604 rotated.jpg|'A most strange and true report of a monstrous fish' Illustration from an early printed report of a Mermaid sighting, 1604

|File:MermenLubok.jpg|Mermaid and merman, 1866. Unknown Russian folk artist

|File:Elisabeth Jerichau Baumann havfruen.jpg|Havfrue, by Elisabeth Jerichau Baumann (1873)

|File:Play of the Nereides by Arnold Böcklin.jpg|The Play of the Naiads, by Arnold Böcklin (1886)

|File:The Little Mermaid by E.S. Hardy.jpg|Illustration of The Little Mermaid by E. S. Hardy ({{circa|1890}})

|File:John Collier - The Land Baby.jpg|The Land Baby, by John Collier (1899)

|File:The Mermaid of Zennor.jpg|The Mermaid of Zennor by John Reinhard Weguelin (1900)

|File:The-Mermaid.jpg|The Mermaid, by Howard Pyle (1910)

|File:The Little Mermaid's Sisters - Anne Anderson.jpg|The Little Mermaid's Sisters by Anne Anderson ({{Circa|1910}})

|File:The Mermaid and the Satyr.jpg|The Mermaid and the Satyr, by Ferdinand Leeke (1917)

|File:Auburtin - Mermaids.JPG|Mermaids, by {{ill|Jean Francis Auburtin|fr}} ({{circa|1920}})

}}

{{gallery|mode=packed

|File:Copenhagen - the little mermaid statue - 2013.jpg|The Little Mermaid statue in Copenhagen (1913)

|File:Songkhla mermaid - panoramio.jpg|The mermaid of the Phra Aphai Mani legend in Songkhla, Thailand (2006)

|File:Mermaid statue Nuuk Greenland.jpg|Mermaid statue in Nuuk, Greenland

}}

{{gallery|mode=packed

|File:Rio mau sereia.jpg|Mermaid carved on a capital of the Rio Mau Monastic church, Portugal (1151).

|File:Mermaid in Santo Domingo church (Pontevedra, Galicia).jpg|A stone coat of arms in Santo Domingo church (Pontevedra, Galicia, Spain), sixteenth century.

|File:Mermaid in Fefiñans Manor house (Cambados, Galicia).jpg|Mermaid in Fefiñans Manor house (Cambados, Galicia, Spain), sixteenth century.

|File:MermaidGuitarDF.JPG|Fountain depicting a mermaid playing a guitar, located in the Museum of the City of Mexico (seventeenth century)

|File:Mariño's coat of arms with mermaid (Mugardos, Galicia).jpg|A stone coat of arms in (Mugardos, Galicia, Spain), eighteenth century

|File:Golden Mermaid on Prince Frederick's Barge 1732.JPG|English carved decoration by James Richards on Prince Frederick's Barge, 1731–1732

|FIle:Igreja Matriz Povoa Varzim Sereia.JPG|Portuguese Baroque stonework in Póvoa de Varzim Matriz Church (1743–1757)

}}

{{gallery|mode=packed

|File:Päijät-Häme.vaakuna.svg|A mermaid in the coat of arms of the Päijänne Tavastia region, Finland (1997)Iltanen, Jussi: Suomen kuntavaakunat (2013), Karttakeskus, {{ISBN|951-593-915-1}}

}}

{{columns-list|colwidth=35em|

• Mermaid in novels
• Ichthyosis
• Kelpie
• List of piscine and amphibian humanoids
• Melusine
• Merlion
• The Mermaid of Warsaw
• Merman
• Mythological hybrid
• Nereid
• Sea monster
• Sea witch
• Selkie
• Sirenia{{Snd}} an order of aquatic mammals that include manatees and dugongs.
• Sirenomelia{{Snd}} or "mermaid syndrome", a disorder in which a child is born with legs fused together.{{cite journal | last1 = Kallen | first1 = B | last2 = Castilla | first2 = EE | last3 = Lancaster | first3 = PA | last4 = Mutchinick | first4 = O | last5 = Knudsen | first5 = LB | last6 = Martinez-Frias | first6 = ML | last7 = Mastroiacovo | first7 = P | last8 = Robert | first8 = E |title=The cyclops and the mermaid: an epidemiological study of two types of rare malformation |journal=Journal of Medical Genetics |year=1992 |pages=30–5 |volume= 29 |issue= 1 |pmid = 1552541 | doi =10.1136/jmg.29.1.30 |pmc=1015818}}
• Susulu (mythology)
• Thessalonike of Macedon#The legend of Thessalonike
• Undine

}}

{{Notelist}}

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{{cite book|last=Bain |first=Frederika |author-link= |chapter=The Tail of Melusine: Hybridity, Mutability, and the Accessible Other |title=Melusine's Footprint: Tracing the Legacy of a Medieval Myth |publisher=BRILL |year=2017 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xSk_DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA25 |pages=25–26 |isbn=9789004355958 }}

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Bartholin (1654), loc. cit.: this passage translated in {{cite book|last=Webster |first=John |author-link=John Webster (minister) |chapter=Chap. XV. Of divers Creatures that have a real existence in Nature, and yet by reason of their wonderous properties, or seldom being seen, have been taken for Spirits, and Devils |title=The Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft |location=London |publisher=J. M. |year=1677 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gL9lAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA285 |pages=285–286}}

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{{cite book|last=Borovsky|first=Zoe Patrice |author-link= |title=Rocking the Boat: Women in Old Norse Literature |publisher=University of California, Berkeley |date=1994 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CGFMAQAAMAAJ&q=furry |page=171 |quote=..further compared to a seal: 'Hon er loðin (hairy or furry) sem selr ok grá at lit'}}

{{cite book|last1=Bräunlein|first1=Peter |author1-link=:de:Peter J. Bräunlein |last2=Lauser |first2=Andrea |author2-link= |title=Leben in Malula: ein Beitrag zur Ethnographie der Alangan-Mangyan auf Mindoro (Philippinen) |publisher=Centaurus-Verlagsgesellschaft |date=1993 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IPtvAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Navarrete%22+%22piscis+mulier%22+ |page=438, n29|isbn=9783890857916}}

{{cite book|last=Breucker |first=Geert de |author-link=Geert de Breucker |chapter=Berossos and the Construction off a Near Eastern Cultural History in Response to the Greeks |editor-last=Hokwerda |editor-first=Hero |editor-link=|title=Constructions of Greek Past: Identity and Historical Consciousness from Antiquity to the Present |publisher=BRILL |date=2021 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1hlREAAAQBAJ&pg=PA29 |pages=28–29 |isbn=9789004495463}}

{{citation|last=Broedel |first=Hans Peter |author-link=|chapter=2. The Mermaid of Edam Meets Medical Science: Empiricism and the Marvelous in Seventeenth-Century Zoological Thought |editor1-last=Byars |editor1-first=Jana |editor1-link= |editor2-last=Broedel |editor2-first=Hans Peter |editor2-link= |title=Monsters and Borders in the Early Modern Imagination |publisher=Routledge |date=2018 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AWJgDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT66 |isbn=9780429878855}}

{{cite book|editor-last=Brynildsen |editor-first=John |editor-link=|chapter=Hav (-frue 'mermaid, maiden'; -mand 'merman') |title=Norsk-engelsk ordbog |edition=2 |location=Kristiania |publisher=H. Aschehoug & Company |date=1917 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CKIYAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA325 |page=325 |language=no}}

{{cite book|last=Buchholz |first=Peter |author-link=Peter Buchholz|title=Vorzeitkunde: mündliches Erzählen u. Überliefern im mittelalterlichen Skandinavien nach d. Zeugnis von Fornaldarsaga u. eddischer Dichtung |publisher=Wachholtz |date=1980 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rQHXAAAAMAAJ&q=%22si%C3%B3kona |page=85 |language=de |isbn=9783529033131 |quote=Nach der Þiðreks saga 36 ( 46 ) ist der Riese Vaði der Sohn einer siókona (Meerfrau)}}

{{cite book|last=Bugge |first=Sophus |author-link=Sophus Bugge |translator-last=Schofield |translator-first=William Henry |translator-link=William Henry Schofield |title=The Home of the Eddic Poems: With Especial Reference to the Helgi-lays |edition=revised |location=London |publisher=David Nutt |date=1899 |series=Grimm library 11 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q5qKW4fpN-4C&pg=PA238 |pages=237–238}}

{{cite journal|last=Burr |first=Brooks M. |author-link= |title=Reviewed Work(s): Fishes, Crayfishes, and Crabs. Louis Renard's Natural History of the Rarest Curiosities of the Seas of the Indies by Theodore W. Pietsch |journal=Copeia |volume=1997 |number=1 |publisher= |date=18 February 1997 |pages=241–243|doi=10.2307/1447871 |jstor=1447871}}

{{cite journal|last=Cascudo |first=Luís da Câmara |author-link=Luís da Câmara Cascudo |title=Geografia do Brasil holandês |editor=Brazilian Historic and Geographic Institute (IHGB) |journal=Anais do IV Congresso de História Nacional |volume=4 |issue=4 |date=1950 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oJFnAAAAMAAJ&q=Alamoa |page=290|language=pt}}

{{cite book|editor-last=Child |editor-first=Francis James |editor-link=Francis James Child |chapter=42. Clerk Colvill |title=The English and Scottish Popular Ballads |volume=1, Part2 |location=Boston |publisher=Houghton, Mifflin and Company |date=1884 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m9IVAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA371 |pages=372–374 |archive-url=https://archive.org/stream/englishandscopt201chiluoft#page/374/mode/2up |archive-date=2006-11-01 }}

{{cite book|editor-last=Child |editor-first=Francis James |editor-link=Francis James Child |chapter=289. The Mermaid |title=The English and Scottish Popular Ballads |volume=Part IX |location=Boston |publisher=Houghton, Mifflin and Company |date=1884 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xNMVAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA148 |pages=148–152}}

{{cite book|last=Chunko-Dominguez |first=Betsy |author-link= |title=English Gothic Misericord Carvings: History from the Bottom Up |publisher=BRILL |date=2017 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Jo1ZDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA82 |pages=82–84 |isbn= 9789004341203}}

{{cite book|last=Clark |first=Willene B. |author-link= |title=A Medieval Book of Beasts: The Second-family Bestiary: Commentary, Art, Text and Translation |publisher=Boydell Press |date=2006 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0olPRmCoE8MC&pg=PA57 |page=57 and n50 |isbn=9780851156828}}

{{cite book|last=Colín |first=Francisco |author-link=:es:Francisco Colín |chapter=Lib. I. Cap. XVII. Algunas cosas naturales, proprias, y otras notables destas Islas. § II. Peces, y animales [marginalia: Pez Muller et seqq.] |title=Labor Evangelica, Ministerios Apostolicos de los Obreros de la Compañia de Jesus, Fundacion, y Progressos de su Provincia en las Islas Filipinas |volume=Parte I |location=Madrid |publisher=Por Joseph Fernandez de Buendia |date=1663 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-0BSAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA80 |pages=80–}}

{{cite book|last=Costa |first=Francisco Augusto Pereira da |author-link=:pt:Francisco Augusto Pereira da Costa |section=A Alamôa |title=A ilhe de Fernando de Noronha |location=Pernambuco |publisher=Typ. de Manoel Figueiroa de Faria & Filhos |date=1887 |section-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bpAtAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA113 |pages=113–114}}

{{cite journal|last=Davidson |first= H. R. Ellis |author-link=H. R. Ellis Davidson |title=Weland the Smith |journal=Folklore |volume=63 |number=3 |date=September 1958 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TXUNAQAAMAAJ&q=%22+Wittich%27s+father%27s+father%27s+mother%22 |pages=149–150 |jstor=1258855}}

{{cite web|url=https://www.todamateria.com.br/lenda-da-iara/ |last=Diana |first=Daniela |author-link= |title=Lenda da Iara: Folclore |trans-title=Legend of the Iara: folkklore|language=pt|accessdate=2025-01-29}}

{{citation|last=Dundes |first=Alan |author-link=Alan Dundes |others=Lauren Dundes |chapter=The Trident and the Fork: Disney's 'The Little Mermaid' as a male construct |title=Bloody Mary in the Mirror: Essays in Psychoanalytic Folkloristics |publisher=University Press of Mississippi |year=2002 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MCi_ye_0k2EC&pg=PA56 |page=56 |isbn=1-578-06461-9}}

{{cite book|last=Elswit |first=Sharon Barcan |author-link= |title=The Latin American Story Finder: A Guide to 470 Tales from Mexico, Central America and South America, Listing Subjects and Sources|location= Jefferson, North Carolina |publisher=McFarland |year=2015|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sUunCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA212 |page=212 |isbn=9780786478958}}

{{cite journal|last=Etting |first= Vivian |author-link= |title=The Rediscovery of Greenland during the Reign of Christian IV |journal=Journal of the North Atlantic |volume=2 |issue=Norse Greenland – Selected Papers from the Hvalsey Conference 2008 |year=2009 |page=159|quote=Dutch captain David Dannel [sic.].. a mermaid with 'flowing hair..' |jstor=26686946}}

{{cite journal|last=Fonseca |first= Pedro Carlos Louzada |author-link= |title=Tropos da colonizaçao da América: discurso do gênero e simbolismo animal |journal=Romance Notes |volume=2 |issue=Norse Greenland – Selected Papers from the Hvalsey Conference 2008 |date=2009 |pages=3–4|doi= 10.1353/rmc.2009.0035 |quote=Se em Gandavo permanece ambíguo o tratamento do tropo da feminização da natureza, referida ao monstruoso, em Fernão Cardim essa figuração deixa-se entrever de form sugestiva, buscada a outro tropo da mentalidade religiosa medieval [If in Gandavo the treatment of the trope of the feminization of nature, referring to the monstrous, remains ambiguous, in Fernão Cardim this figuration lets itself be glimpsed in a suggestive way, sought from another trope of the medieval religious mentality.] |jstor=43801787 |s2cid= 201769444 |language=pt}}

{{cite book|last=Francisci|first=Erasmus |author-link=Erasmus Francisci |chapter=Von den Meer-Menschen |title=Erasmi Francisci Ost- und West-Indischer wie auch Sinesischer Lust- und Stats-Garten |location=Nuremberg |publisher=Endter |date=1668 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i-RTAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA1416 |page=1412 and [https://books.google.com/books?id=i-RTAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA1412-IA1 Plate XLVII**] }}

{{harvp|Fraser|2017}}, Chapter 1. [https://books.google.com/books?id=EP-WDgAAQBAJ&pg=PT15 § Prehistory: Mermaids in the West]"[https://books.google.com/books?id=EP-WDgAAQBAJ&pg=PT15 end of section]

{{cite journal|last=Garstad |first=Benjamin |author-link= |title=Rome in the 'Alexander Romance'|journal=Harvard Studies in Classical Philology |volume=108 |year=2015 |page=500 |quote= |jstor=44157821}}

{{cite web|url=https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/object/109B24 |title=Ms. 100 (2007.16), fol. 14. Sirens. about 1250–1260 |website=Getty Museum |access-date=2022-09-10}}. "serene" fol. 20v

{{cite journal|last=Gödecke |first=P. A. |author1-link=:sv:Peter August Gödecke |title=Studier öfver våra folkvisor från medeltiden |journal=Framtiden: Tidskrift för fosterländsk odling |volume=5 |date=1871 |pages=325–326 |language=sv}}

{{cite book|last=Goodman |first=Ailene S. |author-link= |title=The Extraordinary Being: Death and the Mermaid in Baroque Literature |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |date=2021|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N5NOEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA261 |page=261 |isbn=9789004487895}}

{{cite book|last=Grabbe |first=Lester L. |author-link=Lester L. Grabbe |title=Like a Bird in a Cage: The Invasion of Sennacherib in 701 BCE |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |date=2003 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ln5NwF8L840C&pg=PA122 |pages=122–123 |isbn=9780567207821}}

{{cite book|last1=Grafström |first1=Anders |author1-link= |last2=Forssell |first2=Christian |author2-link=:sv:Christian Forssell |author-mask=Grafström, Anders (text); Forssell, Christian (ed.) |others=Johan Gustaf Sandberg (illustr.) |chapter=Helsingland |title=Ett år i Sverge: Taflor af Svenska almogens Klädedrägt, lefnadssätt och hemseder, samt de för Landets Historia märkvärdigaste Orter |publisher=J. Hörberg |date=1827 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rANdAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA52 |page=52 |language=sv}}; {{cite journal|author=J. Y. |author-link= |title=Swedish Anitquities: translated and abridged from Forssell's Année en Suede |journal=The Antiquary |volume=IV |issue=95 |date=27 December 1873 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V9A3EaAdVpIC&pg=PA315 |page=315}}

{{cite web|url=https://handschriftencensus.de/11043 |title=Handschriftenbeschreibung 11043. Wien, Österr. Nationalbibl., Cod. 223 |website=Handschriftencensus |publisher=Philipps-Universität Marburg; Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur, Mainz |accessdate=2022-09-12}}

{{cite book|editor-last=Hansen |editor-first=William |editor-link=William Hansen (classicist) |title=The Book of Greek & Roman Folktales, Legends & Myths |date=2017 |publisher=Princeton University Press |location=Princeton, New Jersey |isbn=9780691170152 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1ciXDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA169 |pages=169–170}}

{{cite book|last=Harrison |first=Jane Ellen |author-link=Jane Ellen Harrison |title=Myths of the Odyssey in Art and Literature |location=London |publisher=Rivingtons |year=1882 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1CkGAAAAQAAJ |pages=169–170; Plate 47a}}

{{citation|last=Hasan-Rokem |first=Galit |author-link=Galit Hasan-Rokem |chapter=Leviticus Rabbah 16, 1 – "Odysseus and the Sirens" in the Beit Leontis Mosaic from Beit She'an |editor1-last=Fine |editor1-first=Steven |editor1-link=Steven Fine |editor2-last=Koller |editor2-first=Aaron |editor2-link= |title=Talmuda de-Eretz Israel: Archaeology and the Rabbis in Late Antique Palestine |publisher=Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG |date=2014 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AuYxCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA182 |page=182 |isbn=9781614512875 |series=Studia Judaica 73}}

{{cite journal|last=Gorog |first=Ralph Paul de |author-link= |title=A Note on the change of [h-] to [r-] in Normandy |journal=Romance Notes |volume=3 |number=1 |date=Autumn 1961 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lHdfAAAAMAAJ&q=still+aspirated |pages=73–77 |jstor=43800089}}

{{cite journal|last=Gorog |first=Ralph Paul de |author-link= |title=The Treatment of Norman in Jan de Vries' Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch |journal=Scandinavian Studies |volume=35 |number=3 |date=August 1964 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xTY8AAAAIAAJ&q=Altnordisches |page=212 |jstor=40916633}}

{{cite book|last=Groot |first=Jan Jakob Maria |author-link=J. J. M. de Groot |chapter=X. On Zoanthropy. 12. Man-fishes |title=The Religious System of China: book II. On the soul and ancestral worship |publisher=E.J. Brill |date=1901 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J71ZAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA241 |page=241}}

{{cite wikisource|editor=陳夢雷 |editor-link=:zh:陳夢雷 |chapter=博物彙編/禽蟲典/第144卷 䱱魚釋名 |title=欽定古今圖書集成 |date=1726 |wslink=zh:欽定古今圖書集成/博物彙編/禽蟲典/第144卷#䱱魚釋名 }}

{{cite book|last=Hawks|first=Francis L. |author-link=Francis L. Hawks |author-mask=Hawks, Francis L. ("The Author of 'Uncle Philip's Conversations' ") |chapter=2 |title=The Adventures of Henry Hudson |location=New York |publisher=D. Appleton & Company |year=1842 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YyQ9AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA37 |page=37|archive-url=https://archive.org/details/adventuresofhenr00philiala/page/n9 |archive-date=2006-11-16}}

{{cite book|last=Hayward |first=Philip |author-link= |chapter=Japan: The 'Mermaidization' of the Ningyo and related folkloric figures |editor-last=Hayward |editor-first=Philip |editor-link= |title=Scaled for Success: The Internationalisation of the Mermaid |date=2018a |publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=978-0861967322 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mrFiDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA51 |pages=51–52, 66}}

{{cite book|last=Hayward |first=Philip |author-link= |chapter=Chapter 5. From Dugongs to Sinetrons: Syncretic Mermaids in Indonesian Culture |editor-last=Hayward |editor-first=Philip |editor-link= |title=Scaled for Success: The Internationalisation of the Mermaid |publisher=Indiana University Press |date=2018b |isbn=978-0861967322 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mrFiDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA91 |pages=89–106}}

{{cite book|last=Herrera-Sobek |first=María |author-link= |chapter=Iara |title=Celebrating Latino Folklore: An Encyclopedia of Cultural Traditions |publisher=ABC-CLIO |year=2012 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bDIwZ8BieWcC&pg=PA159 |pages=159–160 |isbn=9780313343391}}

{{citation|last=Honma |first=Yoshiharu |author-link=|title=Nihon korai no ningyo, ryūgūnotsukai no seibutsugaku |script-title=ja:日本古来の人魚、リュウグウノツカイの生物学 |journal=Japan Sea Rim Studies|number=11 |publisher= |date=2005-10-01 |url=https://dl.ndl.go.jp/view/prepareDownload?itemId=info%3Andljp%2Fpid%2F10943943&contentNo=1 |pages=126–127 |language=ja}}

{{cite book|editor-last=Jacob |editor-first=Alexander |editor-link= |title=Henry More. The Immortality of the Soul |publisher=Springer/Martinus Nijhoff Publishers |year=1987 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rNTsCAAAQBAJ&pg=PA431 |page=431, n293/7 |isbn=978-94-010-8112-2}}

{{cite book|last=Jakobsen |first=Jakob |author-link=Jakob Jakobsen |chapter=havfrú, havfrúgv |title=Færøsk anthologi: Ordsamling og register udarbejdede af.. |volume=2 |publisher=S.L. Møllers bogtrykkeri |date=1891|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c7njAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA109 |page=109 }}

{{cite web |title=1. Meer Mensch filier So bey Bragefanger Die Riepe Die abgefleischte hand 2. Schwimmende Firer (from Erasmi Francisci Ost-und West-indischer, 1668) |website=JCB Archive of Early American Images |publisher=John Carter Brown Library |url=https://jcb.lunaimaging.com/luna/servlet/detail/JCB~1~1~501084~115901379?qvq=w4s%3A%2Fwhere%2FSouth%2BAmerica%2Fwhen%2F1668%3Bsort%3Anormalized_date%2Cfile_name%2Csource_author%2Csource_title&mi=6&trs=14 |access-date=2022-07-27}}

{{Cite book|ref={{SfnRef|Jón Árnason|Powell (tr.)|Magnússon (tr.)|1866}}|author=Jón Árnason |author-link=Jón Árnason (author) |translator1=George E. J. Powell |translator1-link=George Ernest John Powell |translator2=Eiríkr Magnússon |translator2-link=Eiríkr Magnússon |title=Icelandic Legends |volume=2 |location=London |publisher=Longman, Green, and Co. |year=1866 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bJ_7jDsJPQUC&pg=PR56 |pages=lvi–lvii}}

{{cite book|last=Lionarons |first=Joyce Tally |author-link= |chapter=The Otherworld and its Inhabitants in the Nibelungenlied |editor-last=McConnell |editor-first=Winder |editor-link= |title=A Companion to the Nibelungenlied |publisher=Camden House |year=1998 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wu0B6_XO3boC&pg=PA168 |pages=168–169 |isbn=9781571131515}}

{{harvnb|Jón Árnason|1862}} "Saebúar og vatna", p. 131.

{{cite book|last=Jongh |first=Eddy de |author-link=Eddy de Jongh |title=Fish: Still Lifes by Dutch and Flemish Masters 1550-1700 |publisher=Centraal Museum |year=2004 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RszqAAAAMAAJ&q=anthropomorphous |page=167 |isbn=9789059830059 }}

{{cite book|last=Jonston|first=Johannes |author-link=Johannes Jonston |chapter=Titulus III. Caput. 1. De pisce ανθρωπόμορφω & Remoranti |title=Historiae naturalis de piscibus et cetis libri 5. |location=Amstelodamum |publisher=Ioannem Iacobi fil. Schipper |year=1657 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QkybpxkCt3gC&pg=PA146 |pages=146–147, Tab. XL}}

{{cite book|last=Jonston|first=Johannes |author-link=Johannes Jonston |chapter=Boek. I. / III. Opschrift./ I. Hooft-St.: Van de visch Anthropomorphus, oft die een menschen-gestalte heeft, en van de Remorant |title=Beschryvingh van de Natuur der Vissen en bloedloze Water-dieren |location=Amsterdam |publisher=I. I. Schipper |year=1660 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JxFQAAAAcAAJ&pg=RA1-PA168 |page=168, Tab. XL}}

{{citation|last=Keightley |first=Thomas |author-link=Thomas Keightley |title=The Fairy Mythology: Illustrative of the Romance and Superstition of various Countries |edition=new revised |publisher=H. G. Bohn |year=1850|orig-date=1828|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3cByu3_ZtaAC&pg=PA152 |pages=152–153}}

{{cite book|last=Kemmis |first=Deva F. |author-link= |chapter='Listening Down the Hall': An Epistemological Consideation of the Encounter with Melusine in the Germanic Literary Tradition |title=Melusine's Footprint: Tracing the Legacy of a Medieval Myth |publisher=BRILL |year=2017 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xSk_DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA326 |pages=326–327 n11 |isbn=9789004355958 }}

{{cite book|last=Kircher |first=Athanasius |author-link=Athanasius Kircher |chapter=Lib. III. Pars VI. Caput II. §VI. : De Pisce Anthropomorpho, seu Syrene sanguinem trahente |title=Magnes sive De arte magnetica opus tripartitum |edition=3 |location=Rome |publisher=Deuersin et Zanobius Masotti |orig-date=1641 |date=1654 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2KdNIXN0SJUC&pg=PA531 |pages=531–532}}

{{cite book|last=Kokai |first=Jennifer A. |author-link= |title=Swim Pretty: Aquatic Spectacles and the Performance of Race, Gender, and Nature |location=Carbondale, Illinois |publisher=Southern Illinois University Press |date=2017 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L7I3DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA45 |pages=44–46|isbn=9780809336005}}

{{citation|editor1-last=Kvideland |editor1-first=Reimund |editor1-link=:no:Reimund Kvideland |editor2-last=Sehmsdorf |editor2-first=Henning K. |editor2-link= |title=Scandinavian Folk Belief and Legend |publisher=U of Minnesota Press |year=1988 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HL8QYyP-DHMC&pg=PA36 |pages=35, 262 |isbn=9781452901602}}

{{cite journal|last=Laity |first= K. A. |author-link= |title=Translating Saint as (Vi)king: St. Olaf in the Heimskringla |journal=Viator: Medieval and Renaissance Studies |volume=35 |number=1 |date=2004 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ARlKHqHAQ3UC&q=margygr |page=176|issn=0083-5897 |doi=10.1484/J.VIATOR.2.300196}}

{{cite journal|last=Leclercq |first=Jacqueline |author-link= |title=De l'art antique à l'art médièval. A propos des sources du bestiaire carolingien et de se survivances à l'époque romane |trans-title=From ancient to mediaeval Art. On the sources of Carolingian bestiaries and their survival in the romance period |journal=Gazette des Beaux-Arts |volume=113 |date=February 1989 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JYBLAAAAYAAJ&q=siren |pages=82, 88 |doi=10.2307/596378 |jstor=596378 |quote=Physiologus de Berne.. En contradiction avec le texte qui dépeint une Sirène-oiseau, c'est une Sirène – poisson qui, dans l'illustration, apparaît face au centaure.}} {{inlang|fr}}; {{cite book|last=Leclercq-Marx |first=Jacqueline |author-link= |title=La sirène dans la pensée et dans l'art de l'Antiquité et du Moyen Âge: du mythe païen au symbole chrétien |publisher=Classe des beaux-arts, Académie royale de Belgique |date=1997 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N2qix5cCTdgC |page=62ff |issn=0775-3276 |quote=The chapter devoted to the Siren and the Centaur is an excellent example of this because the Siren is represented as a woman-fish whereas she is described in the form of a woman-bird.. }}

{{cite book|last=Linné |first=Carl von |author-link=Linnaeus |title=Caroli Linnæi ... Amoenitates academicæ, seu dissertationes variæ physicæ, medicæ, botanicæ antehac seorsim editæ, nunc collectæ et auctæ cum tabulis æneis |volume=7 |location=Leiden |publisher=Apud Godefredum Kiesewetter |date=1769 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l_b7hBIjGF0C&pg=PA324-IA1 |page=324}}

{{cite book|last=Macalister |first=R. A. Stewart |author-link=Robert Alexander Stewart Macalister |title=The Philistines : their history and civilization |location=London |publisher=Pub. for the British Academy by H. Milford |date=1913 |url=https://archive.org/details/philistinestheir00maca/page/94/mode/2up|pages=95–96}}

{{cite book|last=Matthews |first=John Hobson |author-link=John Hobson Matthews |title=A History of the Parishes of St. Ives, Lelant, Towednack and Zennor: In the County of Cornwall |location=London |publisher=Elliott Stock |date=1892 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oZULAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA383 |page=383}}

{{cite book|last=McCulloch |first=Florence |author-link= |title=Mediaeval Latin and French Bestiaries |location=Chapel Hill |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |year=1962 |orig-year=1960 |edition=revised |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YJzfAAAAMAAJ&q=mermaid |page=167 |isbn=9780807890332 |quote=Edmond Faral has called attention to what he believes is the first mention of this new type of siren.¹⁵¹ It is contained in the late seventh or early eighth century Liber monstrorum }}

{{cite book|editor-last=Morris |editor-first=Richard |editor-link= |chapter=Natura Sirene |trans-chapter=The Mermaid |title=An Old English miscellany containing a bestiary, Kentish sermons, Proverbs of Alfred, religious poems of the thirteenth century |publisher=Early English Text Society|date=1872 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sVMJAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA18 |pages=18–19 |series=E.E.T.S. Original series 49}} With marginal synopsis.

{{void|{{citation|last=Minakata |first=Kumagusu|author-link=Minakata Kumagusu |author-mask=2 |chapter=Ningyo no hanashi |script-chapter=ja:人魚の話 |title=Minakata Kumagusu zenshū |script-title=ja:南方熊楠全集 |volume=6 |publisher=平凡社 |date=1973 |orig-date=1901 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ypwLAAAAIAAJ&q=人魚 |pages=305–311}} [http://kiebine2007.amearare.com/minakata6.htm htm edition]}}

{{cite book|last1=Millington |first1=Barry |author-link= |last2=Spencer |first2= Stewart |author-link2= |chapter=Notes on the translation |title=Wagner's Ring of the Nibelung: A Companion |publisher=Thames & Hudson |date=1993 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jwI7CwAAQBAJ&pg=PT590|isbn= 0500771464 }}

{{Cite book|editor1-last=Miyazaki |editor1-first=Katsunori |editor1-link=:ja:宮崎克則 |editor2=Fukuoka Archive Kenkyūkai |title=Kaempfer ya Siebold tachi ga mita Kyūshū sosshite Nipon |script-title=ja:ケンペルやシーボルトたちが見た九州、そしてニッポン |publisher=Kaichōsha |date=2009 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fXNMAQAAIAAJ&q=人魚 |page=149|isbn=9784874157275 }}

The novelist Morais (1926) [https://books.google.com/books?id=qxMsAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA80 Na planicie amazonica], p. 80 "A yára [iara] ,.. Metade mulher, metade peixe, .. cauda de escamas multicores (The iara.. part-woman, part-fish, .. tail with multicolored scales) " is oft-quoted, as in Cascudo (2002) [https://books.google.com/books?id=rXgSAQAAIAAJ&q=iara+peixe Antologia do folclore brasileiro], 9th ed., 2: 178.

{{Cite book|last=Mōri |first=Baien |author-link=Mōri Baien |chapter=Ningyo |script-chapter=ja:人魚 |title=Baien gyofu |script-title=ja:梅園魚譜 |date=1825 |url=https://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/1286914/29 |pages=}}

{{cite encyclopedia|last=Müller |first=Ullrich [UM] |author-link=:de:Ulrich Müller (Germanist) |entry=Rhine Maidens |editor1-last=Gentry |editor1-first=Francis G. |editor1-link= |editor2-last=Wunderlich |editor2-first=Werner |editor2-link= |editor3-last=McConnell |editor3-first=Winder |editor3-link= |editor4-last=Mueller |editor4-first=Ulrich |editor4-link= |title=The Nibelungen Tradition: An Encyclopedia |publisher=Routledge |year=2011 |orig-year=2002 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HL8QYyP-DHMC&pg=PA167 |pages=167–168 |isbn=0-8153-1785-9}}

{{cite journal|last=Nakamaru |first=Teiko |author-link= |title=Hakubutsugaku no ningyo hyōshō: honyūrui, josei, uo |script-title=ja:博物学の人魚表象―哺乳類、女性、魚― |trans-title=How the Naturalists Described Merfolk or Mermaids : Fishes, Women, and Mammalia |journal=Journal of Comparative literature |volume=58 | publisher=Nihon Hikaku Bungakukai |year=2015 |url=https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/hikaku/58/0/58_7/_pdf |page=8}}, comparing the definitions of ningyo in Kojien dictionary, 5th edition (1998) and 6th edition (2008). The definition shifts from "half human woman" to "half human (usually woman).

{{cite book|last=Nansen|first=Fridtjof |author-link=Fridtjof Nansen |translator-last=Chater |translator-first=Arthur G. |translator-link= |title=In Northern Mists |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2014|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wb1kAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA244 |page=244 |isbn=9781108071697}}

{{cite book|editor1-last=Blair |editor1-first=Emma Helen |editor1-link=Emma Helen Blair |editor2-last=Robertson |editor2-first=James Alexander |editor2-link=James Alexander Robertson |others=Edward Gaylord Bourne, notes |chapter=Manila and the Philippines about 1650 (concluded). Domingo Fernandez Navarrete, O. P.; Madrid, 1675 [From his Tratados historicos.] |title=The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803: Explorations |volume=38 |publisher=A. H. Clark Company |year=1906 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QcvTAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA29 |page=29}}

{{cite book|editor1-last=Churchill |editor1-first=Awnsham |editor1-link=Awnsham Churchill |editor2-last=Churchill |editor2-first=John |editor2-link= |chapter=Chapter V. His Stay in Manila |title=An Account of the Empire of China, Historical, Political, Moral and Religious.. (in: A Collection of Voyages and Travels, Some Now First Printed from Original Manuscripts. Others Translated Out of Foreign Languages and Now First Publish'd in English) |volume=1 |publisher=Black Swan in Pater-Noster-Row |year=1704 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7rabk_wcv4IC&pg=PA249 |page=249}}

{{cite book|editor-last=Cummins |editor-first=J. S. |editor-link= |chapter=Book VI:The Author's Travels [1646–1674]. Chapter IV. The Author's Stay at Manila |title=The Travels and Controversies of Friar Domingo Navarrete, 1616-1686: Volume I |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=2017 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-gckDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT129 |page=|isbn=9781317013419}}

Bartsch ed. (1905), 5th ed., Das Nibelungenlied, XXV. Âventiure, [https://books.google.com/books?id=DAguAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA175 Str. 1533–1544]; Edwards, Cyril tr. (2020). The Nibelungenlied: The Lay of the Nibelungs. "Twenty-fifth Adventure" [https://books.google.com/books?id=Wy5s0rbW2tMC&pg=PA141 Str. 1532–1543], Oxford University Press

{{cite book|last=Nigg |first=Joseph |author-link= |others=David Matthews, Anke Bernau, James Paz |chapter=A Sea Creature |title=Sea Monsters: A Voyage around the World's Most Beguiling Map |publisher=University of Chicago Press |year=2014 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BT2NAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA132 |pages=130–132 |isbn=9780226925189}}

{{citation|last=ní Mheallaigh |first=Karen |author-link=Karen ní Mheallaigh |chapter=7. Conclusion: fiction and the wonder-culture of the Roman empire |title=Reading Fiction with Lucian: Fakes, Freaks and Hyperreality: Greek Culture in the Roman World |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2014 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cru1BAAAQBAJ&pg=PA262 |page=262|isbn=9781316123980}}

{{cite book|last=Noguera |first=Renato |author-link= |others=Carla Silva |chapter=Alguns mitos Guaranis: § Iara: ciúme, sedução e projeção |title=Mulheres e deusas: Como as divindades e os mitos femininos formaram a mulher atual |publisher=HarperCollins Brasil |year=2018|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GMNNDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT126 |pages=130–132 |isbn=9788595083059|quote=Iara renasce como mulher-peixe, uma imagem similar à sereia dos europeus.}}

{{cite journal|last=Nukada |first=Minoru |author-link= |title=Historical Development of the Ama's Diving Activities |editor1-last=Rahn |editor1-first=Herrman |editor1-link=|editor2-last=Yokoyama |editor2-first=Tetsuro |editor2-link= |journal=Physiology of Breath-Hold Diving and the Ama of Japan: Papers |year=1965 |volume=Publication 1341 |url=https://nap.nationalacademies.org/read/18843/chapter/4 |pages=25–41 |doi=10.17226/18843|isbn=978-0-309-30765-9 }}

{{cite book|last=Ojeda |first=Alfonso |author-link= |title=Cinco historias de la conexión española con la India, Birmania y China: Desde la imprenta a la igualdad de género |publisher=Los Libros De La Catarata |date=2020 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1h__DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT55 |page= |isbn=9788413520643}}

{{citation|editor1-last=Vigfússon |editor1-first=Guðbrandur |editor1-link=Guðbrandur Vigfússon |editor2-last=Unger |editor2-first=Carl Richard |editor2-link=Carl Richard Unger |chapter=Chapter 23. Olafr konungr vann margyghe |title=Flatejarbók |volume=2 |location=Christiania |publisher=P.T. Malling |date=1862 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e6MNAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA25 |pages=25–26}}

{{cite book|author=Olaus Magnus |author-link=Olaus Magnus |chapter=Libri XX. Capitulum XX |title=Historia de gentibus septentrionalibus |location=Rome |publisher=Giovanni M. Viotto |year=1555 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O9lEAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA716 |page=716 |language=la}}

{{cite book|author=Olaus Magnus |author-link=Olaus Magnus |chapter=Libri XXI. Praefatio |title=Historia de gentibus septentrionalibus |location=Rome |publisher=Giovanni M. Viotto |year=1555 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O9lEAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA729 |page=729 |quote=Sunt & beluae in mari quasi hominis figuram imitantes, lugubres in cantu, vt nereides; etiam marini homines, toto corpore absoluta similitudine.. |language=la}}

{{cite book|author=Olaus Magnus |author-link=Olaus Magnus |editor-last=Foote |editor-first=Peter |editor-link=Peter Foote |title=Historia de Gentibus Septentrionalibus: Romæ 1555 |others=Fisher, Peter;, Higgens, Humphrey (trr.) |trans-title=Description of the Northern Peoples : Rome 1555 |publisher=Hakluyt Society |date=1996 |page=1052 |isbn= |quote=There can be heard melodious flutes and.. cymbals.. as I recounted.. on the sister Fates and the nymphs, as Pliny.. reads..'An embassy was dispatched from Olysippo.. to the Emperor Tiberius that Triton had been seen.. And.. the Nereids... the people.. listened from afar to her dismal moans at the hour of her death', etc.}}; [https://books.google.com/books?id=CvhKDwAAQBAJ&lpg=PT411&pg=PT411 e-book] (unpaginated)

{{cite book|author=Olaus Magnus |author-link=Olaus Magnus |editor-last=Foote |editor-first=Peter |editor-link=Peter Foote |title=Historia de Gentibus Septentrionalibus: Romæ 1555 |others=Fisher, Peter;, Higgens, Humphrey (trr.) |trans-title=Description of the Northern Peoples : Rome 1555|publisher=Hakluyt Society |date=1998 |page=1081 |isbn=9780904180435 |quote=There are also sea-creatures, like mermaids, which sing plaintively and are similar in shape to human beings; and there are mermen}}; [https://books.google.com/books?id=CvhKDwAAQBAJ&lpg=PT411&pg=PT411 e-book] (unpaginated)

{{cite book|author=Ólína Þorvarðardóttir |author-link=Ólína Þorvarðardóttir |chapter=Sæbúar, vatnaverur og dísir |title=Íslenskar þjóðsögur: álfar og tröll |publisher=Bóka- og blaðaútgáfan |date=1987 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ffjZAAAAMAAJ&q=%22haffr%C3%BA%22 |page=17 |isbn=9789979921004|language=is}}

{{cite book|last=L. B. |first=Olsen|author-mask=Olsen, L. B. (ps.; {{=}}Salomon Soldin) |author-link=Salomon Soldin |chapter=Havfrue 'mermaid, sea-maid, siren'; Havmand 'seaman, merman') |title=Dansk og engelsk Lexicon: udarbeidet efter de bedste Forfattere i begge Sprog |location=Kjøbenhavn |publisher=A. & S. Soldin |date=1806 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XjhVAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA820 |pages=155, 820 |language=no}}

{{citation|last=Ornan |first=Tallay |author-link= |collaboration=Israel Exploration Society |title=The Triumph of the Symbol: Pictorial Representation of Deities in Mesopotamia and the Biblical Image Ban |location=Göttingen |publisher= Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht |year=2005 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Cpei4BrPlSwC&pg=PA127 |page=127|isbn=9783525530078 |series=Orbis biblicus et orientalis 213}}

{{cite book|editor-last=Orchard |editor-first=Andy (tr.)|editor-link=Andy Orchard |title=Pride and Prodigies: Studies in the Monsters of the Beowulf Manuscript |publisher=University of Toronto Press |date=2003a |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hU8DdkwXbDEC&pg=PA263 |pages=262–263|isbn=9780802085832}}

{{citation|last=Patten |first=Robert L. |author-link=Robert L. Patten |chapter=Chapter 15. Thorough-bred Artist |title=George Cruikshank's Life, Times and Art: Volume 1, 1792-1835 |publisher=Rutgers University Press |date=1992 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lHF4j4YPaSsC&pg=PA237 |page=237|isbn=9780813518138 }}

{{cite book|last=Paul |first=Hermann |author-link=Hermann Paul |title=Grundriss der germanischen Philologie |volume=2 |number=2 |publisher=Trübner |date=1893 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NMfjAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA55 |page=55}}

{{cite book|last=Peacock |first=Martha Moffitt |author-link= |chapter=The Mermaid of Edam and the Emergence of Dutch National Identity |editor-last=Classen |editor-first=Albrecht |editor-link= |title=Imagination and Fantasy in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Time: Projections, Dreams, Monsters, and Illusions |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |date=2020 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h773DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT571 |page=684 |isbn=9783110693782}}

{{cite book|last1=Pessoa |first1=Roberto Soares |author1-link=:pt:Roberto Soares Pessoa|last2=Sousa |first2=Raimundo Erivelto de |author2-link= |chapter=03.2 A Cultura Popular |title=Ditados Populares: a verdade que o povo consagrou |location= |publisher=Editora Dialética |date=2022 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aFGGEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT26 |page=|isbn=9786525247519}}

{{cite book|author=Pliny the Elder |author-link=Pliny the Elder |translator1-last=Bostock |translator1-first=John |translator1-link=John Bostock (physician) |translator2-last=Riley |translator2-first=Henry Thomas |translator2-link=Henry Thomas Riley |chapter=IX.Chap. 4. (5.) -- The forms of the tritions and nereids. The forms of sea elephants |title=The Natural History of Pliny, Vol. 2 |publisher=H. G. Bohn |date=1855 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sDwZAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA362 |pages=362–363|isbn=9780598910769}}

{{cite book|author=Pliny the Elder |author-link=Pliny the Elder |translator=Rackham, H[arris] |translator-link= |chapter=IX.10.iv Tritons, Nereid and aquatic monsters |title=Natural History, Vol. 3 |publisher=W. Heinemann |date=1940 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/plinynaturalhist005560mbp/page/168/ |pages=168–169 |series=Loeb classical library.}}; [https://books.google.com/books?id=v5OEAAAAIAAJ&q=nereids 1958 ed. ]

{{cite book|author=Pliny the Elder |author-link=Pliny the Elder |title=Natural History, Vol. 8 |publisher=W. Heinemann |year=1963 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2pWEAAAAIAAJ&q=%22homo+marinus%22 |page=589 (index) |isbn=9780674994607|series=Loeb classical library.}}

{{cite book|last=Pontoppidan |first=Erich |author-link=Erik Pontoppidan |chapter=Kap. 8. §2. Havmand –§4. Meer-minne – §5. Marmæte |title=Det første Forsøg paa Norges naturlige Historie |volume=2 |location=Copenhagen |publisher=Berlingske Arvingers Bogtrykkerie |date=1753a |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZVuF_HQlnYcC&pg=PA302 |pages=302–317|language=da}} [https://www.nb.no/nbsok/nb/34de0f4d96b2dd8914eeb75b5b49d484#393 digital copy]@National Library Norway

{{cite book|last=Pontoppidan |first=Erich |author-link=Erik Pontoppidan |chapter=Ch. 8. Sect. 3. Hav-Mand, Mer-man – Sect. 4. Meerminne – Sect. 5. Marmæte |title=The Natural History of Norway...: Translated from the Danish Original |volume=2 |location=London |publisher=A. Linde |date=1755 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3OglUqRf_soC&pg=RA1-PA186 |pages=186–195}}

{{cite encyclopedia|last=Polistico |first=Edgie |author-link= |editor-last=Haase |editor-first=Donald |editor-link= |title=dugong |encyclopedia=Philippine Food, Cooking, & Dining Dictionary |location=Mandaluyong |publisher=Anvil Publishing, Inc. |year=2017 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=STSWDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT225 |page=|isbn=9786214200870}}

{{cite book|last=Prichard |first=James Cowles |author-link=James Cowles Prichard |title=Researches into the History of Mankind: History of the Oceanic and American nations|publisher=Sherwood, Gilbert & Piper |date=1847 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wfwWAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA58 |page=58}}

{{cite book|last=Proença |first=Manuel Cavalcanti |author-link=:pt:Manuel Cavalcanti Proença |title=Roteiro de Macunaíma |location=Rio de Janeiro |publisher=Civilização Brasileira |date=1969|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g69TAAAAMAAJ&q=Alamoa |page=210}}; {{URL|1=https://books.google.com/books?id=lLIJAQAAIAAJ&q=Alamoa |2=5th ed.}} (1978), p. 170; {{URL|1=https://books.google.com/books?id=EtsdAQAAIAAJ&q=%22A Alamoa%22 |2=6th ed.}} (1987), p. 170

Martin, Ernst ed. (1866 ). [https://books.google.com/books?id=epk6AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA309 Str.964]. [https://books.google.com/books?id=epk6AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA310 Str. 969]

{{cite book|last=Renard |first=Louis |author-link= |others=Baltazar Coyett, Adrien van der Stell |chapter=monstre ou sirenne |title=Poissons, ecrevisses et crabes, de diverses couleurs et figures extraordinaires: que l'on trouve autour des isles Moluques et sur les côtes des terres Australes: peints d'après nature ... Ouvrage ... quit contient un trr̀e grand nombre de poissons les plus beaux & les plus rares de la Mer des Indes |edition=2 |location=Amsterdam |publisher=Chez Reinier & Josué Ottens |date=1754 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=10s8hXP9Ej0C&pg=PT6 |at=Planche LVII, Nº 240}}(ミシガン大学蔵本)

{{cite book|last=Rhodes |first=Kimberly |author-link= |title=Ophelia and Victorian Visual Culture: Representing Body Politics in the Nineteenth Century |publisher=Routledge |date=2016 |orig-date=2008 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AkQrDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA118 |page=118 |isbn=9781351555678}}

{{cite book|last=Rietz|first=Johan Ernst |author-link=:sv:Ernst Rietz |chapter=kona: sjö-kuna |title=Svenskt dialekt-lexikon eller ordbog öfver svenska allmogespraket |volume=1 |location=Lund |publisher=Cronholm |year=1877 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WxOiBBNO0vcC&pg=PA345 |page=345 |language=sv}}

{{cite book|last=Ringgren |first=Helmer |author-link=Helmer Ringgren |chapter=The Religion of Ancient Syria |editor1-last=Bleeker |editor1-first=C. Jouco |editor1-link= |editor2-last=Widengren |editor2-first=Geo |editor2-link=Geo Widengren |title=Historia Religionorum I: Religions of the Past |publisher=E. J. Brill |date=1969 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0sgUAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA208 |page=208}}

{{cite book|last=Rotroff |first=Susan I. |author-link=Susan I. Rotroff |title=Hellenistic Painted Potter: Athenian and Imported Moldmade Bowls, The Athenian Agora 22 |publisher=American School of Classical Studies at Athens |year=1982 |page=67, #190; Plates 35, 80 |isbn=978-0876612224}}

{{cite journal|last=Sayers |first=William |author-link= |title=Deployment of an Irish Loan: ON verða at gjalti 'to Go Mad with Terror' |journal=The Journal of English and Germanic Philology |volume=93 |number=2 |date=April 1994 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oHpXAAAAYAAJ&q=%22mermaid |page=176|quote= |jstor=27710979}}

{{cite book|last=Schade |first=Oskar |author-link=:en:Oskar Schade |chapter=meremanni ahd. st. M. mhd. mereminne / merewîp, merwîp |title=Altdeutsches Wörterbuch |volume=II |location=Halle |publisher=Verlag der Buchhandlung des Waisenhauses |date=1866 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ATtJAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA394 |page=394|language=de}}

{{cite book|last=Schottenhammer |first=Angela |author-link= |chapter=The Sea as Barrier and Contact Zone: Maritime Space and Sea Routes in Traditional Chinese Books and Maps |editor1-last=Schottenhammer |editor1-first=Angela |editor1-link= |editor2-last=Ptak |editor2-first=Roderich |editor2-link= |title=The Perception of Maritime Space in Traditional Chinese Sources |publisher=Otto Harrassowitz Verlag |date=2006 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U9rWcNu89kgC&pg=PA11 |page=11 |isbn=9783447053402}}

{{cite book|editor-last=Strassberg |editor-first=Richard E. |editor-link= |chapter=15. Red Ru-fish (Chiru) |script-chapter=zh:赤鱬 |title=A Chinese Bestiary: Strange Creatures from the Guideways Through Mountains and Seas |publisher=University of California Press |year=2018 |chapter-url=https://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/1911212/21 |page=34}}

{{cite book|editor-last=Strassberg |editor-first=Richard E. |editor-link= |chapter=266. The Di people (Diren) |script-chapter=zh:氐人 |title=A Chinese Bestiary: Strange Creatures from the Guideways Through Mountains and Seas |publisher=University of California Press |year=2018 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fnpFDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA190 |page=190 |isbn=978-0-52029-851-4}}

{{cite book|editor-last=Strassberg |editor-first=Richard E. |editor-link= |chapter=125. Human-fish (Renyu) |script-chapter=zh:人魚 |title=A Chinese Bestiary: Strange Creatures from the Guideways Through Mountains and Seas |publisher=University of California Press |year=2018 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fnpFDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA130 |page=130 |isbn=978-0-52029-851-4}}

{{cite book|last1=Soares |first1=Cláudia Campos |author1-link= |last2=Silva |first2=Hugo Domínguez |author2-link= |last3=Barbosa |first3=Tereza Virgínia R. |author3-link= |chapter=Magma, by João Guimãraes Rosa: Word in Progress |editor1-last=Silva |editor1-first=Maria de Fátima |editor1-link= |editor2-last=Hardwick |editor2-first=Lorna |editor2-link=Lorna Hardwick |editor3-last=Pereira |editor3-first=Susana Marques |editor3-link= |title=The Classical Tradition in Portuguese and Brazilian Poetry |publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing |date=2022 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=63VjEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA176 |page=191 |isbn=9781527581197}}

{{cite book|last=Souza |first=Licia Soares de |author-link= |chapter=A Baía de Todos os Santos em Mar Morto |editor1-last=Caroso |editor1-first=Carlos |editor1-link= |editor2-last=Tavares |editor2-first=Fátima |editor2-link= |editor3-last=Pereira |editor3-first=Cláudio |editor3-link= |title=Baía de todos os santos: aspectos humanos |publisher=SciELO – EDUFBA |date=2011 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cT7_CwAAQBAJ&pg=PA562 |pages=562 |doi=10.7476/9788523211622 |isbn=9788523211622 |jstor=10.7476/9788523211622.24 |language=pt}}

{{cite book|last=Suarez |first=Thomas |author-link= |chapter=Chapter 15. The Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries. § François Valentijn and Johannes van Keulen |title=Early Mapping of Southeast Asia: The Epic Story of Seafarers, Adventurers, and Cartographers Who First Mapped the Regions Between China and India |publisher=Tuttle Publishing |date=2012 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wQTQAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT608 |pages=232–|isbn=9781462906963}}

{{cite book|last=Russell |first=Eugenia |author-link= |title=Literature and Culture in Late Byzantine Thessalonica |publisher=A&C Black |year=2013|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-QBMAQAAQBAJ&pg=PR22 |page=xxii|isbn=978-1-441-16177-2}}

{{cite web|last=Scribner |first=Vaughn |author-link= |title=Mermaids and Tritons in the Age of Reason |publisher=Public Domains Review |date=29 September 2021 |url=https://publicdomainreview.org/essay/mermaids-and-tritons-in-the-age-of-reason |access-date=2022-07-27}}

{{citation|last1=Senter |first1=Phil |author-link= |last2=Snow |first2=Venretta B. |author-link2= |title=Solution to a 300-year-old zoological mystery |journal=Archives of Natural History |volume=40 |issue=2 |date=September 2015 |pages=257–262 |doi=10.3366/anh.2013.0172 }}. [https://shnh.org.uk/publications/archives-of-natural-history/archives-of-natural-history-volume-40-no-2-2013/ Abstract]

{{cite wikisource||script-title=zh:山海經/山海經/海內南經 |title=Shanhaijing /Haineinanjing |wslink=zh:山海經/山海經/海內南經 |quote={{lang|zh|氐人國在建木西, 其為人人面而魚身, 無足.}}}}

{{cite wikisource|和書 |chapter=卷第464 海人魚|title=太平廣記 |date=1726 |wslink=zh:太平廣記/卷第464#海人魚 }}

{{cite book|last=Tauchnitz |first=Karl |author-link=Karl Tauchnitz |chapter=mermaid |title=Nytt engelskt och svenskt handlexikon |trans-title=A New Pocket-dictionary of the English and Swedish Languages |location=Leipzig |publisher=O. Holtze |date=1883 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DFxAAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA260 |page=260 }}

{{cite book|last=Tocantins |first=Leandro |author-link=:pt:Leandro Tocantins |title=Santa Maria de Belém Do Gräo Pará: Instantes E Evocacöes la Cidade |location=Rio de Janeiro |publisher=Editôra Civilizacäo Brasileira |year=1963 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1OxlAAAAMAAJ&q=Arinos |page=322 |lang=pt}}

{{citation|last=Toriyama |first=Sekien |author-link=Toriyama Sekien |translator=Hiroko Yoda |translator2=Matt Alt |title=Japandemonium Illustrated: The Yokai Encyclopedias of Toriyama Sekien |publisher=Courier Dover Publications |year=2017 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oeTtDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA168 |pages=168 |isbn=9780486818757 }}

{{cite journal|last=Thompson |first=Homer A. |author-link=Homer Thompson |title=The Excavation of the Athenian Agora Twelfth Season |journal=Hesperia: The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens |volume=17 |number=3, The Thirty-Fifth Report of the American Excavation in the Athenian Agora |date=July–September 1948 |url=https://www.ascsa.edu.gr/uploads/media/hesperia/146874.pdf |pages=161–162 and Fig. 5 |jstor=146874}}

{{Cite book|last=Thorpe |first=Benjamin |author-link=Benjamin Thorpe |chapter=I. Norwegian Traditions: §The Merman (Marmennill) and Mermaid (Margygr) |title=Northern Mythology, Comprising the Principal Popular Traditions and Superstitions of Scandinavia, North Germany and the Netherlands: Compiled from Original and Other Sources |volume=2 |location=London |publisher=Edward Lumley |year=1851|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q-lAAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA27 |page=27}}

{{Cite book|last=Thorpe |first=Benjamin |author-link=Benjamin Thorpe |chapter=II. Swedish Traditions: §The skogsrå―the sjöra–§ Of Water-Elves (1 The Mermaid) |title=Northern Mythology, Comprising the Principal Popular Traditions and Superstitions of Scandinavia, North Germany and the Netherlands: Compiled from Original and Other Sources |volume=2 |location=London |publisher=Edward Lumley |year=1851|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q-lAAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA75 |pages=75; 76–77 }}

{{cite book|last=Valentyn |first=François |author-link=François Valentyn |chapter=Verhandling der Water-Dieren: 3de Hoofdstuck. I. Van de Zee-Menschen |trans-chapter=Treatise on the Aquatic Animals of Ambon |title=Oud en Nieuw Oost-Indiën |volume=3 |location=Dordrecht/Amsterdam |publisher=Johannes van Braam/Gerard onder de Linden |date=1726 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZHtEAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA330 |pages=330–332 |isbn=9789051942286 |language=nl}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=ZHtEAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA332-IA3 Pl.]; [https://archive.org/details/oudennieuwoostin03vale/page/n389/mode/2up (Internet Archive)]

{{cite web|url=http://www.smalandsmusikarkiv.nu/folkvisa/visor/smbds23-ah/smbds23-ah.html |title=Havfruns tärna |website= Smålands Musikarkiv |publisher=Linnaeus University |date= |access-date=2022-06-28}}

{{cite encyclopedia|last=Webster|first=Hugh Alexander |title=The Encyclopædia Britannica: A Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and General Literature |author-link=Hugh Alexander Webster |entry=Mermaids and Mermen |dictionary=Encyclopedia Britannica |edition=9 |volume=16 |date=1891 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_Oloj5zFGzgC&pg=PA44 |pages=44–45}}

{{cite journal |last=Wood |first=Rita |author-link= |title=The Norman Chapel in Durham Castle |journal=Northern History |date=March 2010 |volume=XLVII |issue=1 |url=http://www.rwromanesque.co.uk/NHI211731.pdf |access-date=25 July 2012 |page=31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140211081710/http://www.rwromanesque.co.uk/NHI211731.pdf |archive-date=11 February 2014 |url-status=dead }}

{{cite journal|last=Woodruff|first=Helen |author-link= |title=The Physiologus of Bern: A Survival of Alexandrian Style in a Ninth Century |journal=The Art Bulletin |volume=12 |number=3 |date=September 1930 |at=Fig. 22 and p. 249|jstor=3050780}}

{{citation|last1=Yoda |first1=Hiroko |author-link= |last2=Alt |first2=Matt |author-link2= |title=Yokai Attack!: The Japanese Monster Survival Guide |publisher=Tuttle Publishing |year=2013 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-ArQAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT265 |pages=265 |isbn=978-1-462-90883-7}}

{{Cite journal|last=Yoshioka |first=Ikuo |author-link=:ja:吉岡郁夫 |title=Ningyo no shinka |script-title=ja:人魚の進化 |journal=Comparative folklore studies: for folklore studies of Asia |publisher=Tsukuba University |date=September 1993 |issue=8 |url=https://tsukuba.repo.nii.ac.jp/record/4441/files/5.pdf |page=38 |issn=0915-7468}} [https://hdl.handle.net/2241/14286 URI]

{{harvp|Yoshioka|1993|p=39}}, citing Hino (1926), p. 170

{{citation|editor1-last=Zheng |editor1-first=Jinsheng |editor1-link= |editor2-last=Kirk |editor2-first= Nalini |editor2-link= |editor3-last=Buell |editor3-first=Paul D. |editor3-link= |editor4-last=Unschuld |editor4-first=Paul Ulrich |editor4-link= |title=Dictionary of the Ben Cao Gang Mu, Volume 3: Persons and Literary Sources |publisher=University of California Press |date=2018 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qbxODwAAQBAJ&pg=PA87 |page=87 |isbn=9780520291973}}

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{{refend}}

{{commons}}

{{Wikiquote|Mermaids}}

{{Wikisource|Portal:Mermaids}}

• [https://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/mythic-creatures/water/becoming-mermaids Becoming Mermaids]—American Museum of Natural History

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{{Heraldic creatures}}

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Category:Heraldic beasts

Category:Medieval legends

Category:Mythological human hybrids

Category:Nereids

Category:Oceanids

Category:Therianthropy

Category:Water spirits

Category:Fairy tale stock characters