Merman

For other uses, see Merman (disambiguation).

Merman

A Crowned Merman, by Arthur Rackham
Grouping	Mythological
Sub grouping	Water spirit
Country	Worldwide

A merman (pl.: mermen; also merlad or merboy in youth), the male counterpart of the mythical female mermaid, is a legendary creature which is human from the waist up and fish-like from the waist down, but may assume normal human shape. Sometimes mermen are described as hideous and other times as handsome.

Antiquity

Perhaps the first recorded merman was the Assyrian-Babylonian sea-god Ea (called Enki by the Sumerians), linked to the figure known to the Greeks as Oannes.^[1] However, while some popular writers have equated Oannes of the Greek period to the god Ea (and to Dagon),^[2][3] Oannes was rather one of the apkallu servants to Ea.^[4]

The apkallu have been described as "fish-men" in cuneiform texts, and if Berossus is to be believed, Oannes was indeed a being possessed of a fish head and man's head beneath, and both a fish tail and manlike legs.^[a][1][4] But Berossus was writing much later during the era of Greek rule, engaging in the "construction" of the past.^[4] Thus even though figurines have been unearth to corroborate this fish-man iconography, these can be regarded as representing "human figures clad in fish cloaks",^[4] rather than a being with a fish head growing above the human head. And the god Ea is also seen as depicted wearing a fish cloak by modern scholars.^[5]

Greco-Roman mythology

Further information: Triton (mythology)

Triton with a nymph

Triton of Greek mythology was depicted as a half-man, half-fish merman in ancient Greek art. Triton was the son of the sea-god Poseidon and sea-goddess Amphitrite. Neither Poseidon nor Amphitrite were merfolk, although both were able to live underwater as easily as on land.

Tritons later became generic mermen, so that multiple numbers of them were depicted in art.^[6][7]

Tritons were also associated with using a conch shell in the later Hellenistic period.^[8] In the 16th century, Triton was referred to as the "trumpeter of Neptune (Neptuni tubicen)" in Marius Nizolius's Thesaurus (1551),^[9][b] and this phrase has been used in modern commentary.^[10] The Elizabethan period poet Edmund Spenser referred to Triton's "trompet" as well.^[11]

Another notable merman from Greek mythology was Glaucus. He was born a human and lived his early life as a fisherman. One day, while fishing, he saw that the fish he caught would jump from the grass and into the sea. He ate some of the grass, believing it to have magical properties, and felt an overwhelming desire to be in the sea. He jumped in the ocean and refused to go back on land. The sea gods nearby heard his prayers and transformed him into a sea god. Ovid describes the transformation of Glaucus in the Metamorphoses, describing him as a blue-green man with a fishy member where his legs had been.

Medieval period

Marmennill

Main article: Marmennill

A merman is called marmennill in Old Norse,^[12] attested in the Ladnámabók.^[13][15] An early settler in Iceland (c. 11th century)^[c] allegedly caught a merman while fishing, and the creature prophesied one thing: the man's son will gain possession of the piece of land where the mare Skálm chooses to "lie down under her load". In a subsequent fishing trip the man was drowned, survived by the boy who stayed behind.^{[d][13][12][16][17]}

Hafstrambr

The hafstrambr is a merman, described as a counterpart to the hideous mermaid margýgr in the Konungs skuggsjá ("King's mirror", c. 1250). He is said to generally match her anthropomorphic appearance on the top half, though his lower half is said to have been never been seen.^[18][19] In actuality, it may have been just a sea-mammal (hooded seal, Cystophora cristata),^[20][21] or the phenomenon of some sea creature appearing magnified in size, caused by mid-range mirage.^[18]

Medieval Norsemen may have regarded the hafstrambr as the largest sorts of mermen, which would explain why the word for marmennill ('little mer-man') would be given in the diminutive.^[22]

Other commentators treat the hafstrambr merely as an imaginary sea-monster.^[23][24]

Early cartography

A twin-tailed merman is depicted on the Bianco world map (1436).^[25][26][e] A merman and a mermaid are shown on the Behaim globe (c. 1490–1493).^[27]

Renaissance period

Gesner's sea-satyr

Sea-Pan or sea-satyr

Sea-monster (monstum marinum)

―Gesner (1558) Historiae animalium.

Triton

―Schott's Physica Curiosa (1697).

Konrad Gesner in his chapter on Triton in Historia animalium IV (1558) gave the name of "sea-Pan" or "sea-satyr" (Latin: Pan- vel satyrus marinus) to an artist's image he obtained, which he said was that of an "ichthyocentaur" or "sea-devil".^{[28][f][29][30]}

Gesner's sea-devil (German: Meerteufel) has been described by a modern commentator as having "the lower body of a fish and the upper body of a man, the head an horns of a buck-goat or the devil, and the breasts of a woman",^[31] and lacks the horse-legs of a typical centaur. Gesner made reference to a passage where Aelian writes of satyrs that inhabit Taprobana's seas,^[28] counted among the fishes and cete (Ancient Greek: κήτη, romanized: kḗtē, "sea monsters").^[32][33]

This illustration was apparently ultimately based on a skeletal specimen and mummies.^[30][g] Gesner explained that such a creature was placed on exhibit in Rome on 3 November 1523.^[33][28] Elsewhere in Gesner's book it is stated the "sea monster (monstrum marinum)" viewed on this same date was the size of a 5-year-old child.^[34][h] It has been remarked in connection to this by one ichthyologist that mermen created by joining the monkey's upper body with a fish's lower extremity have been manufactured in China for centuries;^[33] and such merchandise may have been imported into Europe by the likes of the Dutch East India Company by this time^[37] (cf. Bartholin's siren). Mummies (Feejee mermaids) were certainly being manufactured in Japan in some quantity by the 19th century or even earlier^[38] (cf. §Hoaxes and sideshows).

The "sea-satyr[e]" appears in Edmund Spenser's poem The Faerie Queene (1590), and glossed by Francis J. Child as a type of "ichthyocentaur", on the authority of Gesner.^[39]

Scandinavian folklore

Marbendill

Main article: marmennill

Icelandic folklore beliefs speak of sea-dwelling humans (humanoids) known as marbendlar (sing. marbendill),^[40] which is the later Norse,^[41][14] and modern Icelandic form of marmennill.^[42][43]

Jón lærði Guðmundsson ('the Learned', d. 1658)'s writings concerning elves^[i] includes the merman or marbendill as a "water-elf". This merman is described as seal-like from the waist down.^[44][45] Jón the Learned also wrote down a short tale or folktale concerning it,^[46] which has been translated under the titles "The Merman"^[47] and "Of Marbendill".^[48]

Jón Árnasson, building on this classification, divided the water-elves into two groups: the male marbendill vs. the female known variously as hafgýgur, haffrú, margýgur, or meyfiskur.^[49] But in current times, hafmey is the common designation of the mermaid.^[50] This gender classification however is not in alignment with the medieval source described above, which pairs the margýgr with the (hafstrambr).

Havmand

According to Norwegian folklore dating back to the 18th century, havmand [no] takes the mermaid (havfrue) as wife, and the offspring or young they produce are called marmæler (sing. Norwegian: marmæle).^[51][52]

Norwegian mermen (havmænd) were later ascribed the general characteristic that they are of "a dusky hue, with a long beard, black hair, and from the waist upwards resemble a man, but downwards are like a fish."^[54][j]

While the marmæler does literally mean 'sea-talker',^[57] the word is thought to be a corruption of marmenill, the aforementioned Old Norse term for merman.^[22]

Prophesying

An alleged marmennill prophesying to an early Icelandic settler has already been noted (cf. §Medieval period). In the story "The Merman", a captured marbendill laughs thrice, and when pressed, reveals to the peasant his insight (buried gold, wife's infidelity, dog's fidelity) on promise of release. The peasant finds wonderful gray milk-cows next to his property, which he presumes were the merman's gift; the unruly cows were made obedient by bursting the strange bladder or sac on their muzzle (with the stick he carried).^[46][47][48]

Abductions

In Sweden, the superstition of the merman (Swedish: hafsman) abducting a human girl to become his wife has been documented (Hälsingland, early 19th century); the merman's consort is said to be occasionally spotted sitting on a holme (small island), laundering her linen or combing her hair.^[58]

There is a Swedish ballad (Swedish: visa [sv]) entitled "Hafsmannen" about a merman abducting a girl; the Danish ballad "Rosmer Havmand" is a cognate ballad based on the same legend.^[59][60]

"Agnete og Havmanden" is another Scandinavian ballad work with this theme, but it is of late composition (late 18th century). It tells of a merman who had been mated to a human woman named Agnete; the merman unsuccessfully pleaded with her to come back to him and their children in the sea.^[61]

The merman (1911) by John Bauer

English folklore

English folklorist Jacqueline Simpson surmises that as in Nordic (Scandinavian) countries, the original man-like water-dwellers of England probably lacked fish-like tails.^[62] A "wildman" caught in a fishnet, described by Ralph of Coggeshall (c. 1210) was entirely man-like though he liked to eat raw fish and eventually returned to the sea.^[62] Katharine Mary Briggs opined that the mermen are "often uglier and rougher in the British Isles".^[63][k]

Mermen, which seldom frequent American folklore, are supposedly depicted as less beautiful than mermaids.^[65]

Celtic folklore

The Irish fakelore story of "The Soul Cages" features a male merrow named Coomara, a hideous creature with green hair, teeth and skin, narrow eyes and a red nose. The tale was created by Thomas Keightley, who lifted the plot from one of the Grimms' collected tales (Deutsche Sagen No. 25, "Der Wassermann und der Bauer" or "The Waterman and the Peasant").^[64]

In Cornish folklore into early modern times, the Bucca, described as a lonely, mournful character with the skin of a conger eel and hair of seaweed, was still placated with votive offerings of fish left on the beach by fishermen.^[66] Similarly vengeful water spirits occur in Breton and Gaelic lore, which may relate to pre-Christian gods such as Nechtan.

China and Japan

In China and in Japan, there are various accounts of "human-fish" (人魚, Chinese: renyu, Japanese: ningyo), and these presumably occurred in male forms also.

However, Chinese human-fish have been described (and illustrated) as resembling a catfish,^[67] and not quite so human-like (cf. merfolk#Renyu or human-fish).^[67]

Illustrated depictions of male ningyo do exist from the Edo Period (cf. Ningyo§Male ningyo). One example is the picture of male human-fish (男人魚, otoko ningyo) hand-copied by the young lord of Hirosaki Domain.^[68] Another is the illustrated sheet of kawaraban newspaper carrying news of the "ningyo from Holland" (阿蘭陀渡り人魚),^[69][70] bearing the face of an old man.^[71][73]

Hairen or kaijin

Main article: hairen

In China and Japan there are also accounts of the "sea human" (海人, Chinese: hairen, Japanese: kaijin), some of these accounts are of European origin.

A known description of the hairen occurs in a work in Chinese called Zhifang waiji (職方外紀), actually written by a European.^[74] Here Ai Rulüe (Giulio Aleni) stated that there are two kinds of hairen. The example of the first kind had a beard.^[l][75][74]

The second type of hairen described by Aleni was actually a female woman,^[m] identifiable as the Mermaid of Edam [nl] captured in 1403, with drooping skin, as if she were dressed in [a pao 袍 type of robe].^[n][74][75]

Later, a Japanese source (Nagasaki bunkenroku) gave description of the kaijin encompassing features of both types: it had chin hair^[o] as well as a skin flap around the waist similar to a hakama.^[76][77] These trouser-like hakama was worn by men, as well as women in some cases.

An older (though perhaps lesser known) account of hairen occurs in Shaozi or Shao Yong's work called Caomuzi (草木子), which describes the creature as having the shape of a (Buddhist) priest, though diminutive in stature.^[78][79] It has been equated with the umibōzu ("sea-priest, sea acolyte priest") yōkai of Japan.^[79]

Folklore elsewhere

In Finnish mythology, a vetehinen [fi], a type of neck, is sometimes portrayed as a magical, powerful, bearded man with the tail of a fish. He can cure illnesses, lift curses and brew potions, but he can also cause unintended harm by becoming too curious about human life.

In the Inuit folklore of Greenland and northern Canada, the Auvekoejak is a furry merman.^[80]

In an Italian folktale with medieval roots, Cola Pesce (Nicholas Fish) was a human boy until his mother cursed him to become part fish. As a merman, he occasionally assisted fishermen, but was summoned by a king who ordered him to explore the seabed and bring back items. Cola Pesce reluctantly went on the king's errands, only to disappear.^[81]

The boto (river dolphins) of the Amazon River regions of northern Brazil, is described according to local lore as taking the form of a human or merman, also known as encantado ("enchanted one" in Portuguese) and with the habit of seducing human women and impregnating them.^[82]

In the folklore of the Dogon of Mali, ancestral spirits called Nommo had humanoid upper torsos, legs and feet, and a fish-like lower torso and tail.^[83]

In heraldry

Merman pictured in the coat of arms of Vörå, Finland

Mermen or "tritons" see uncommon use in British heraldry, where they appear with the torso, head and arms of a man upon the tail of a fish. They are typically used as supporters, and are rarely used as charges.^[84]

Hoaxes and sideshows

See also: Mermaid § Hoaxes and show exhibitions

The Banff "merman" on display at the Indian Trading Post, Banff, Alberta

A dried ray or skate, or Jenny Haniver, on display at Mashhad Museum, Iran

A stuffed specimen of the merfolk was exhibited in London in 1822 was later billed "Fiji mermaid" by P.T. Barnum and put on display in the Barnum's American Museum, New York, in 1842.^[85] Although billed as a "mermaid", this has also been bluntly referred to as a "Barnum's merman" in one piece of journalism.^[86] This specimen was an example of fake mermaids posed in "The Scream" style, named after Edvard Munch's painting; mermaids in this pose were commonly made in the late 18th and early 19th century in Japan.^[38]

A similar fake "mermaid" at the Horniman Museum^[87] has also been relabeled by another curator as a "merman",^[88] where "mermen" or "feejee mermaids" are used as generic terms for such concocted mummies.^[89] DNA testing was inconclusive as to species (and nothing on gender was disclosed), but despite being catalogued as a "Japanese Monkey-fish", it was determined to contain no monkey parts, but only the teeth, scales, etc. of fish.^[88][90]

Another "merman" specimen supposedly found in Banff, Alberta, is displayed at the Indian Trading Post.^[91] Other such "mermen", which may be composites of wood carvings, parts of monkeys and fish, are found in museums around the world; for example, at the Booth Museum in Brighton.^[92]

Such fake mermaids handcrafted from monkeys and fish were being made in China and the Malay Archipelago, and imported by the Dutch since the mid-16th century, according to ichthyologist E. W. Gudger.^{[37][better source needed]} Several natural history books published around this time (c. 1550s) carried entries on the mermaid-like monk-fish (sea monk) and the bishopfish (sea bishop), and Gudger suspected these were misinformation based on the aforementioned hoax mermaids from the East.^[p][93]

Gudger also noted that the mermaid-like bishopfish could well be simulated by a dried specimen of a ray. A dried ray bears a vaguely anthropomorphic shape, and can be further manipulated to enhance its desired monstrous look. Such figures made of sharks and rays eventually came to be known as Jenny Hanivers in Great Britain.^[94]

Literature and popular culture

Matthew Arnold wrote a poem called "The Forsaken Merman" about a merman whose human wife abandoned him and their children.^[95][96] Mermen may feature in science fiction and fantasy literature. The Merman's Children by American writer Poul Anderson is inspired by the ballad Agnete og Havmanden. Science fiction writer Joe Haldeman wrote two books on Attar the Merman in which genetically enhanced mermen can communicate telepathically with dolphins. Samuel R. Delany wrote the short story Driftglass in which mermen are deliberately created surgically as amphibious human beings with gills,^[97] while in J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter, a race of merpeople live in a lake outside Hogwarts.^[98]

Mermen sometimes appear in modern comics, games, television shows and films. Although they were once depicted largely as being unattractive in some traditions as described in previous sections, in some modern works, mermen are portrayed as handsome, strong and brave. In the 1977–1978 television series Man from Atlantis, the merman as played by Patrick Duffy is described as a survivor from Atlantis.^[97] In the DC Comics mythology, mermen are a common fixture of the Aquaman mythos, often showing a parochialistic rivalry with humanoid water-breathers. The mermen or merfolk also appear in the Dungeons & Dragons game.^[99] Three mermen are featured in the music video for Madonna's 1989 song "Cherish".^[100]

The Australian TV series Mako: Island of Secrets (2013–2016), a spin-off of H₂O: Just Add Water, includes a teenage boy named Zac (played by Chai Hansen) who turns into a merman. The 2006 CG-animated film Barbie: Mermaidia features a merman character named Prince Nalu.

The monster known as the Gill-man from the film Creature from the Black Lagoon could be seen as a modern adaptation of the merman myth.^[101]

See also

• List of piscine and amphibian humanoids
• List of hybrid creatures in mythology
• Vodyanoy
• Fish-man of Cantabria, Spain
• "1983... (A Merman I Should Turn to Be)"
• Tezin Nan Dlo (Haitian folktale)

Explanatory notes

1. Berrosus, as preserved by Alexander Polyhistor.
2. It also occurs in Gesner (1558).
3. The settler was Grímr Ingjaldsson whose family hails from Haddingjadalr (Hallingdal), Norway.^[12]
4. This boy is identifiable as Þórir^[16] (anglicized as Thore^[13]).
5. This is replicated in the Vincenzio Formaleoni map of 1783 "Planisferio antico di Andrea Bianco Che si conserva in Venezia nella Biblioteca di S. Marc", LUNA, JCB Map Collection. The figure occurs at the far right.
6. Translation of Gesner's Latin passage given in: Benito Cereno. "Burgeoning Lads of Science".
7. Gesner's artist told him "he had received a drawing of a skeleton of such an animal in Antwerp. Also, another man brought back this monster dried from Norway to lower Germany, male and female".^[28][f]
8. An illustration similar to Gesner's monstrum marinum was later printed by Kaspar Schott in Physica-Curiosa and labeled as "Triton".^[35] Llewellyn Jewitt has also reproduced an illustration quite similar to Schott's, claiming it came from Rondelet.^[36]
9. Halldor specifies Tíðfordríf and commentary on the Snorra Edda
10. Pontpoddian had included a section on the latest sightings. One havmand allegedly seen in 1719 of particularly large size, measuring 3 fathoms (5.5 m), was dark-grey in colour; it had paws like the seal-calf (seal) but might be counted among the whale-kind, according to the commentator.^[55] Another seen in 1723 (taken from the writing of Andreas Bussæus 1679–1735) was like an old man, with curled black hair and black beard, coarse-skinned but shaggy. One witness noticed its body was taper-ended like a fish.^[56]
11. However, it should be remembered that a polling of the folklore of the "British Isles" would include Irish folklore, and the story of the male merrow Coomara was Thomas Keightley's invention.^[64]
12. Chinese: 須/鬚 or "beard". But had to be released back to sea, upon which it was seen "clapping its hands and laughing loudly".
13. Chinese: 女人
14. The text reads paofu 袍服, which is a somewhat specific type of formal attire, even though Mangani translated it as "non-removable cloth".
15. And eyebrows, and webbed skin between the fingers and toes.
16. Gudger notes as corroborating circumstantial evidence the fact that Guillaume Rondelet's source received description of the bishopfish from some informant in Amsterdam (and the Dutch were the importers of the mermaid mummies).

References

Citations

1. Waugh (1960), pp. 73–74.
2. Spence, Lewis (1920) [1916]. Myths & Legends of Babylonia & Assyria. G. Harrap. pp. 87, 93, 111, 216217.
3. Waugh (1960), p. 73: "the first merman in recorded history is the sea-god Ea, or in Greek, Oannes"
4. Breucker, Geert de (2021), Hokwerda, Hero (ed.), "Berossos and the Construction off a Near Eastern Cultural History in Response to the Greeks", Constructions of Greek Past: Identity and Historical Consciousness from Antiquity to the Present, BRILL, pp. 28–29, ISBN 9789004495463
5. Worthington, Martin (2019). "Chapter 8 The fish:puzur nūnī". Ea's Duplicity in the Gilgamesh Flood Story. Routledge. ISBN 9780429754500. The earliest example is probably an unpublished "tutelary figure of Ea" made of lead and wearing a fish cloak, excavated at Nineveh
6. Hansen, William F. (2004). Deities, Themes and Concepts: Waters. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 9-781-5760-7226-4. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
7. Lattimore, Steven (1976). The Marine Thiasos in Greek Sculpture. Institute of Archaeology, University of California, Los Angeles. p. 30. ISBN 9780917956027.
8. Arafat, Karim (KWA) (2012). "Triton". The Oxford Classical Dictionary. Princeton University Press. p. 236. ISBN 978-0-199-54556-8.
9. Nizolius, Marius (1551) [1535], "Triton", Dictionarium Seu Thesaurus Latinae Linguae, Ex Sirenis Officina, p. 507
10. For example, Brooks, Nathan Covington, ed. (1860). The Metamorphoses of Publius Ovidius Naso. p. 79, n94.
11. "Triton his trompet shirll", Faerie Queene, 3.11.12
12. Craigie, W. A. (June 1893). "The Oldest Icelandic Folk-Lore". Folklore. 4 (2): 228, 232. JSTOR 1253453.; —— (1924). "46 Grím and the Merman". Easy Readings in Old Icelandic (in Icelandic). Edinburgh: I. B. Hutchen. pp. 73–74.
13. Vigfússon, Guðbrandur; Powell, Frederick York, eds. (1905). "Landnáma-bóc II. 5. 2.". Origines Islandicae: A Collection of the More Important Sagas and Other Native Writings Relating to the Settlement and Early History of Iceland (in Icelandic). Vol. 1. Clarendon Press, 1905. pp. 53–54.
14. Cochrane, Jamie A. (2008). McKinnell, John; Ashurst, David; Kick, Donata (eds.). Land-Spirits and Iceland's Fantastic Pre-Conversion Landscape. Walter de Gruyter. pp. 188–190. ISBN 9780955333507. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
15. The Sturlubók version gives marmennill, while the Hauksbók gives margmelli.^[14]
16. Mitchell, Stephen A. (1987). Foley, John Miles (ed.). The Sagaman and Oral Literature: The Icelandic Traditions of Hjorleifr inn kvensami and Geirmundr heljarskinn. Slavica Publishers. p. 418. ISBN 9780893571733. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
17. Pálsson, Hermann (1988). "A Foundation Myth in Landnámabók". Mediaeval Scandinavia. 12: 25–26.
18. Lehn, Waldemar H.; Zierau, Wolfgang (2004). "The hafstramb and margygr of the King's Mirror: an analysis" (PDF). Polar Record. 40 (213): 228, 121–134. Bibcode:2004PoRec..40..121L. doi:10.1017/S0032247403003255. S2CID 55448486.
19. Nansen, Fridtjof (2014). In Northern Mists. Translated by Chater, Arthur G. Cambridge University Press. p. 244. ISBN 9781108071697.
20. Nizolius, Marius [in Norwegian] (1916), "Triton", Festskrift til professor Amund Helland paahans 70 aars fødselsdag, 11. oktober 1916, Kristiania: Aschehoug, pp. 217, 221
21. Finnur Jónsson ed. (1920) Konungs skuggsjá: Speculum regale, p. 115
22. Magnussen, Finn; Rafn, C. C., eds. (1845). "Ch. XXIX. §10. Udtog af Konúngs skuggsjó angaaende Grönlands Beliggenhed og physiske Mærkværdigheder". Grönlands historiske Mindesmaerker, udgivne af det kongelige nordiske oldskrift-selskab. Vol. 3. Kjøbenhavn: Brünnich. p. 373.
23. Gundersen, Dag (2008). Bandle, Oscar; Braunmüller, Kurt; Jahr, Ernst Håkon; Karker, Allan; Naumann, Hans-Peter; Telemann, Ulf; Elmevik, Lennart; Widmark, Gun (eds.). Nordic language history and natural and technical sciences. Vol. 1. Kjartan Gudjónsson (illustr.). Walter de Gruyter. p. 436. ISBN 9783110197051. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help), citing KLNM= Kulturhistorisk lexikon för nordisk medeltid/for nordisk middelalder.
24. Cleasby & Vigfusson (1874), An Icelandic-English Dictionary, s.v. "haf", viz. haf-strambr ".
25. Watts, Linda (2006). The World Map, 1300-1492: The Persistence of Tradition and Transformation. JHU Press. p. 266. ISBN 0-801-88589-2.
26. Siebold, Jim (2015). "#241 Andrea Bianco World Map". myoldmaps.com.; pdf text gives close-up of siren.
27. Terkla, David P. (2013), "Behaim, Martin (c. 1459–1507)", in Friedman, John Block Friedman; Figg, Kristen Mossler (eds.), Trade, Travel, and Exploration in the Middle Ages: An Encyclopedia, Routledge, pp. 55–56, ISBN 978-1-135-59094-9
28. Gesner (1558), p. 1197; (1604 ed.) p. 1001.
29. Hendrikx, Sophia (2018). "Monstrosities from the Sea. Taxonomy and tradition in Conrad Gessner's (1516-1565) discussion of cetaceans and sea-monsters". Anthropozoologica. 53 (11): 132–135. doi:10.5252/anthropozoologica2018v53a11. hdl:1887/67726.
30. Wehner, Ursula; Zierau, Wolfgang; Arditti, Joseph (2013). Germanicus and Plinius Indicus: Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century Descriptions and Illustrations of Orchid "Trash Baskets", Resupination, Seeds, Floral Segments and Flower Senescence in the European Botanical Literature in Orchid Biology: Reviews and Perspectives. Springer Science & Business Media. pp. 42–44. ISBN 978-9-401-72500-2. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
31. Suutala, Maria (1990), Tier und Mensch im Denken der deutschen Renaissance, Studia Historica 36 (in German), Helsinki: Societas Historica Finlandiae, p. 262, ISBN 9789518915341, ..der Meerteufel, Daemon marinus, der den Unterkörper eines Fisch und den Oberkörper eines Menschen hat, der Kopf und Hörner hat wie ein Bock oder wie der Teufel und die Brust ist wie bei einer Frau
32. Aelian, De Natura Animalium 16.18
33. Holder, Charles Frederick. Fish Stories Alleged and Experienced: With a Little History Natural and Unnatural. American nature series. Group V. Diversions from nature. David Starr Jordan. 1909. p. 7.
34. Gesner (1558), p. 522; (1604 ed.) p. 441.
35. Grace Constantino (31 October 2014). "The Beautiful Monster: Mermaids". Biodiversity Heritage Library.
36. Jewitt, Llewellyn (1880), "The Mermaid, and the Symbolism of the Fish, in Art, Literature, and Legendary Lore", The Reliquary and Illustrated Archaeologist, 20: 9–16
37. Gudger (1934), p. 512.
38. Viscardi et al. (2014), p. 101.
39. Spenser (1866), "Faerie Queene, 2.12.27", British Poets 2, Francis J. Child, Boston: Little, Brown & Company, p. 134
40. Ármann Jakobsson (2002).
41. marbendil is attested in Hálfs saga (early 14th cent.).
42. Webster, Hugh Alexander (1891). "Mermaids and Mermen". The Encyclopædia Britannica: A Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and General Literature. Encyclopedia Britannica. Vol. 16 (9 ed.). pp. 44–45.
43. MacCulloch, John Arnott (1930). Eddic Mythlogyo. The Mythology of All Races 2. Boston: Marshall Jones Company. p. 210.
44. Halldór Hermannsson [in Icelandic] (1924), "Jón Guðmundsson and his natural history of Iceland", Islandica, 15: xix, archived from the original on 2017-08-13
45. Jón Árnason (1866). Icelandic Legends. Vol. 2. Translated by George E. J. Powell; Eiríkr Magnússon. London: Longman, Green, and Co. pp. lvi–lvii.
46. Jón Árnason (1862). Þá hló marbendill. Vol. I. Leipzig: J. C. Hinrichs. pp. 132–133. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help) (baekur.is) (in Icelandic)
47. Jón Árnason (1864). "The Merman". Icelandic Legends. Translated by George E. J. Powell; Eiríkr Magnússon. London: Richard Bentley. pp. 103–105.
48. Jón Árnason (1987). "Of Marbendill". In May Hallmundsson; Eiríkr Magnússon (eds.). Icelandic Folk and Fairy Tales. Kjartan Gudjónsson (illustr.) (2 ed.). Iceland Review. pp. lvi–lvii. ISBN 9789979510444.
49. Jón Árnason 1862 "Saebúar og vatna", p. 131.
50. Ólína Þorvarðardóttir (1987). "Sæbúar, vatnaverur og dísir". Íslenskar þjóðsögur: álfar og tröll (in Icelandic). Bóka- og blaðaútgáfan. p. 17. ISBN 9789979921004.
51. Pontoppidan, Erich (1753a). "Kap. 8. §2. Havmand –§4. Meer-minne – §5. Marmæte". Det første Forsøg paa Norges naturlige Historie (in Danish). Vol. 2. Copenhagen: Berlingske Arvingers Bogtrykkerie. pp. 302–317. digital copy@National Library Norway
52. Pontoppidan, Erich (1755). "Ch. 8. Sect. 3. Hav-Mand, Mer-man – Sect. 4. Meerminne – Sect. 5. Marmæte". The Natural History of Norway...: Translated from the Danish Original. Vol. 2. London: A. Linde. pp. 186–195.
53. Thorpe, Benjamin (1851). "I. Norwegian Traditions: §The Merman (Marmennill) and Mermaid (Margygr)". Northern Mythology, Comprising the Principal Popular Traditions and Superstitions of Scandinavia, North Germany and the Netherlands: Compiled from Original and Other Sources. Vol. 2. London: Edward Lumley. p. 27.
54. Thorpe^[53] who cites Faye as general source (p. 9, note 2), and translates Faye (1833)'s description in Danish: "mørkladne, have langt Skiæg, sort Haar og ligne oventil et Menneste; men nedentil en Fisk" (pp. 58–59). Faye cites Pontoppidan as a source (p. 62).
55. Pontoppidan (1755), pp. 190–191.
56. Pontoppidan (1755), pp. 194–195.
57. Bassett, Fletcher S. (1892) [1885]. "Chapter IV. Water-Sprites and Mermaids". Sea Phantoms: Or, Legends and Superstitions of the Sea and of Sailors in All Lands and at All Times (Rev. ed.). Chicago: Rinehart & Company, Inc. pp. 148–201.
58. Grafström, Anders (text); Forssell, Christian (ed.) Forssell, Christian [in Swedish] (1827). "Helsingland". Ett år i Sverge: Taflor af Svenska almogens Klädedrägt, lefnadssätt och hemseder, samt de för Landets Historia märkvärdigaste Orter (in Swedish). Johan Gustaf Sandberg (illustr.). J. Hörberg. p. 52.; J. Y. (27 December 1873). "Swedish Anitquities: translated and abridged from Forssell's Année en Suede". The Antiquary. IV (95): 315.
59. Gödecke, P. A. [in Swedish] (1871). "Studier öfver våra folkvisor från medeltiden". Framtiden: Tidskrift för fosterländsk odling (in Swedish). 5: 325–326.
60. Child, Francis James, ed. (1884). "Rosmer Havmand, or The Mer-man Rosmer". The English and Scottish Popular Ballads. Vol. 1, Part2. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Company. pp. 253–257. Archived from the original on 2022-10-20. Retrieved 2022-10-20.
61. Kramer, Nathaniel (2014). Nun, Katalin; Stewart, Jon (eds.). Agnes and the Merman: Abraham as Monster. Ashgate. pp. 16–17. ISBN 978-1-472-44136-2. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
62. Simpson, Jacqueline; Roud, Stephen (2000), "mermaid, merman", A Dictionary of English Folklore, Oxford University Press, pp. 639–640, ISBN 0-192-10019-X
63. Briggs, Katharine Mary (1978). The vanishing people: a study of traditional fairy beliefs. Batsford. p. 266. ISBN 0-801-88589-2.
64. Markey, Anne (2006). "The Discovery of Irish Folklore". New Hibernia Review / Iris Éireannach Nua. 10 (4): 27–28. JSTOR 20558106
65. Watts, Linda (2006). Encyclopedia of American Folklore. Infobase Publishing. p. 266. ISBN 1438129793. Retrieved 25 July 2015. Mermen do appear within folklore, but are relatively uncommon in American lore. They are also said to be much less visually appealing than mermaids.
66. Traditional Cornish Stories and Rhymes, Lodenek Press, 1972
67. Strassberg, Richard E., ed. (2018). "125. Human-fish (Renyu)" 人魚. A Chinese Bestiary: Strange Creatures from the Guideways Through Mountains and Seas. University of California Press. p. 129. ISBN 978-0-52029-851-4.
68. Aomori Prefectural Museum [in Japanese] (2009), "58 Onga otokoningyo kinsei" 58 御画 男人魚（おんが おとこにんぎょ）近世 (PDF), Yōkaiten: Kami, mononoke, inori 妖怪展：神・もののけ・祈り (in Japanese), Introduction by Oyama, Takahide, To-o Nippo Press, p. 41
69. Nishimaki, Kōzaburō, ed. (1978). Kawaraban shinbun: Ōsaka natsu no jin kara gōshō Zeniya Gohei no saigo かわら版新聞: 大阪夏の陣から豪商銭屋五兵衛の最期 (in Japanese). Heibonsha. pp. 23, 85. 面光女のごとく頭紅毛有両手猿にて又水かき有其形蛇の如く四尺五寸あり
70. "Awai no kuni, ayakashi no kuni" あはひのくに あやかしのくに, Najona, 7, Fukushima Museum, July–August 2021
71. Kushida, Kimizō 櫛田公造. "Shi wa shinbun shinshi no shi" “し”は新聞・新志のシ. Tokyo ningyō manhitsu club: akasatana manpitsu. Retrieved 2023-03-28.
72. Abe, Masamichi; Chiba, Mikio [in Japanese] (1996). にっぽん妖怪地図. 角川書店. ISBN 4048511149.
73. This newsprint was also featured in the manga Hōzuki no Reitetsu Vol. 12, p. 101, with a facsimile sketch of the print, and was offered as an example of a male ningyo. The comic cited Abe & Chiba (1996),^[72] without indication of page.
74. Magnani (2022), p. 97.
75. Ai Rulüe 艾儒略 (1843) [1623], "Sihai zonghuo: haizu" 四海総説: 海族 [General theory of the Four Seas: mer-folk], Zhifang waiji 職方外紀, vol. 5
76. Hirokawa Kai (1797). "Kaijin, kaijo" 海人・海女. Nagasaki kenbunroku nukigaki 長崎見聞録抜書（ぬきがき）. doi:10.11501/2536412.
77. Fujisawa, Morihiko [in Japanese] (1922–1925). "Ningyo densetsu kō" 人魚傳説考. Nihon densetsu kenkyū 2 日本伝説研究二. Daitōkaku. p. 30, Fig. 8, Fig. 14.
78. [[:zh:葉子奇 (明朝)|Ye Ziqi 叶子奇 (葉子奇)]] [in Chinese]. "Juan 1, second part, Guanwu piān" 卷之一下「观物篇」. Caomuzi 草木子 – via Wikisource. 邵子曰。...尝闻海贾云。南海时有海人出。形如僧。人颇小。登舟而坐。至则戒舟人寂然不动。少顷复沈水。否则大风翻舟。
79. Ikeda, Shirōjirō (1913). "Kaijin" 海人（カイジン）. Koji jukugo daijiten 故事熟語大辭典. Hōbunkan. p. 197.
80. Covey, Jacob, ed. (2007). "Pictorial Schedule of Traditional Hidden Creatures from the Interest of 90 Modern Artistans". Beasts! Book 1. Fantagraphics Books. p. 36. ISBN 978-1-5609-7768-1.
81. Calvino, Italo (1980). Italian Folktales. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc. p. 746.
82. Wood, Juliette (2018). Fantastic Creatures in Mythology and Folklore: From Medieval Times to the Present Day. Bloomsbury. p. 62. ISBN 978-1-4411-3060-0.
83. Crowley, Vivianne; Crowley, Christopher (2001). Ancient Wisdom. Carlton Books. p. 195. ISBN 9781858689876.
84. Fox-Davies, Arthur (1909). A Complete Guide to Heraldry. London: T.C. and E.C. Jack. pp. 227–228.
85. Bondeson, Jan (1999). "The Feejee mermaid". The Feejee mermaid and other essays in natural and unnatural history. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. pp. x, 38–40. ISBN 0-801-43609-5.
86. Babin, Tom (28 September 2012). "Up close and personal with the Banff Merman at the Banff Indian Trading Post". Calgary Herald. Archived from the original on 8 September 2019. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
87. Bondeson (1999), pp. 58–59.
88. Viscardi, Paolo (16 April 2014). "Mysterious mermaid stripped naked". The Guardian.;
89. Viscardi et al. (2014), p. 98.
90. Viscardi et al. (2014), p. 103.
91. Babin, Tom (2007-01-22). "Banff's oldest celebrity resident". Calgary Herald. Archived from the original on 2007-10-13. Retrieved 2007-08-08.
92. Imms, Adrian (24 Mar 2016). "Could this be the most gruesome creature in Brighton?". The Argus.
93. Gudger (1934), pp. 512–515.
94. Gudger (1934), pp. 514–515.
95. "The Forsaken Merman". The Poetry Foundation. March 2022.
96. "The Forsaken Merman: Poem by Arnold". Encyclopaedia Britannica.
97. S. T. Joshi, ed. (2007). Icons of Horror and the Supernatural: An Encyclopedia of Our Worst Nightmares, Volume 2. Greenwood Press. pp. 452–455. ISBN 978-0313337826.
98. Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock, ed. (April 2016). The Ashgate Encyclopedia of Literary and Cinematic Monsters. Routledge. p. 413. ISBN 9781317044260.
99. Gygax, Gary, and Dave Arneson. Dungeons & Dragons (3-Volume Set) (TSR, 1974)
100. Vernallis, Carol (May 1998). "The Aesthetics of Music Video: An Analysis of Madonna's 'Cherish'". Popular Music. 17 (2): 153–185. doi:10.1017/S0261143000000581. JSTOR 853454. S2CID 54547848.
101. A.W. (May 1, 1954). "Movie Review – The Creature From the Black Lagoon". The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-05-19.

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