Template:Short description {{#invoke:other uses|otheruses}} Template:Infobox mythical creature A merman (Template:Plural form: 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.

AntiquityEdit

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.Template:Sfnp However, while some popular writers have equated Oannes of the Greek period to the god Ea (and to Dagon),<ref name="spence"/><ref>Template:Harvp: "the first merman in recorded history is the sea-god Ea, or in Greek, Oannes"</ref> Oannes was rather one of the apkallu servants to Ea.<ref name="breucker" />

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.Template:EfnTemplate:Sfnp<ref name="breucker" /> But Berossus was writing much later during the era of Greek rule, engaging in the "construction" of the past.<ref name="breucker" /> 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",<ref name="breucker" /> 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.<ref name="worthington" />

Greco-Roman mythologyEdit

Template:Further

File:Galéria mesta Bratislavy11.jpg
Triton with a nymph, Mirbach Palace Courtyard, Bratislava, Slovakia

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.<ref name=handbook-triton/><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Tritons were also associated with using a conch shell in the later Hellenistic period.<ref name=oxford-classical-dict/> In the 16th century, Triton was referred to as the "trumpeter of Neptune (Neptuni tubicen)" in Marius Nizolius's Thesaurus (1551),<ref name=nizolius/>Template:Efn and this phrase has been used in modern commentary.<ref name=brooks>For example, Template:Cite book</ref> The Elizabethan period poet Edmund Spenser referred to Triton's "trompet" as well.<ref>"Triton his trompet shirll", Faerie Queene, 3.11.12</ref>

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 periodEdit

MarmennillEdit

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} A merman is called marmennill in Old Norse,<ref name="craigie"/> attested in the Ladnámabók.<ref name="vigfusson&powell"/>Template:Refn An early settler in Iceland (Template:C.)Template:Refn 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.Template:Refn<ref name="vigfusson&powell"/><ref name="craigie"/><ref name="mitchell"/><ref name="palsson1988"/>

HafstrambrEdit

The hafstrambr is a merman, described as a counterpart to the hideous mermaid margýgr in the Konungs skuggsjá ("King's mirror", Template:C.). 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.<ref name="lehn&schroeder"/><ref name="nansen"/> In actuality, it may have been just a sea-mammal (hooded seal, Cystophora cristata),<ref name="nordgaard"/><ref name="finnur"/> or the phenomenon of some sea creature appearing magnified in size, caused by mid-range mirage.<ref name="lehn&schroeder"/>

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.<ref name="GhM"/>

Other commentators treat the hafstrambr merely as an imaginary sea-monster.<ref name="gundersen-KLNM"/><ref name="cleasby-vigfusson-haf"/>

Early cartographyEdit

A twin-tailed merman is depicted on the Bianco world map (1436).<ref name="watts" /><ref name="siebold" />Template:Efn A merman and a mermaid are shown on the Behaim globe (Template:C.).<ref name="terkla" />

Renaissance periodEdit

Gesner's sea-satyrEdit

Template:Multiple image Konrad Gesner in his chapter on Triton in Historia animalium IV (1558) gave the name of "sea-Pan" or "sea-satyr" (Template:Langx) to an artist's image he obtained, which he said was that of an "ichthyocentaur" or "sea-devil".<ref name=gesner-sea-satyr>Template:Harvp; (1604 ed.) p. 1001.</ref>Template:Efn<ref name=hendrikx/><ref name="wehner&zierau&arditti"/>

Gesner's sea-devil (Template:Langx) 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",<ref name=suutala/> 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,<ref name=gesner-sea-satyr/> counted among the fishes and cete (Template:Langx, "sea monsters").<ref>Aelian, {{#invoke:URL|url}}{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:URL with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y | 1 | 2 }} 16.18</ref><ref name=holder/>

This illustration was apparently ultimately based on a skeletal specimen and mummies.<ref name="wehner&zierau&arditti"/>Template:Efn Gesner explained that such a creature was placed on exhibit in Rome on 3 November 1523.<ref name=holder/><ref name=gesner-sea-satyr/> 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.<ref>Template:Harvp; (1604 ed.) p. 441.</ref>Template:Efn 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;<ref name=holder/> and such merchandise may have been imported into Europe by the likes of the Dutch East India Company by this timeTemplate:Sfnp (cf. Bartholin's siren). Mummies (Feejee mermaids) were certainly being manufactured in Japan in some quantity by the 19th century or even earlierTemplate:Sfnp (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.<ref>Template:Citation</ref>

Scandinavian folkloreEdit

MarbendillEdit

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} Icelandic folklore beliefs speak of sea-dwelling humans (humanoids) known as marbendlar (sing. Template:Linktext),Template:Sfnp which is the later Norse,Template:Refn<ref name="cochrane"/> and modern Icelandic form of marmennill.<ref name="webster-EB1891"/><ref name="macculloch"/>

Jón lærði Guðmundsson ('the Learned', d. 1658)'s writings concerning elvesTemplate:Efn includes the merman or marbendill as a "water-elf". This merman is described as seal-like from the waist down.<ref name="halldor1924"/><ref name="jon_arnason-eng-vol2-intro"/> Jón the Learned also wrote down a short tale or folktale concerning it,<ref name="jon_arnason"/> which has been translated under the titles "The Merman"<ref name="jon_arnason-eng-vol1-merman"/> and "Of Marbendill".<ref name="jon_arnason-iceland_review"/>

Jón Árnasson, building on this classification, divided the water-elves into two groups: the male marbendill vs. the female known variously as {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, or {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}.<ref name="jon_arnason-saebuar"/> But in current times, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} is the common designation of the mermaid.<ref name="olina_thorvardardottir"/> This gender classification however is not in alignment with the medieval source described above, which pairs the margýgr with the (hafstrambr).

HavmandEdit

According to Norwegian folklore dating back to the 18th century, Template:Interlanguage link takes the mermaid (havfrue) as wife, and the offspring or young they produce are called marmæler (sing. Template:Langx).<ref name="pontoppidan"/><ref name="pontoppidan-eng"/>

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."Template:RefnTemplate:Refn

While the marmæler does literally mean 'sea-talker',<ref name="bassett"/> the word is thought to be a corruption of marmenill, the aforementioned Old Norse term for merman.<ref name="GhM"/>

ProphesyingEdit

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).<ref name="jon_arnason"/><ref name="jon_arnason-eng-vol1-merman"/><ref name="jon_arnason-iceland_review"/>

AbductionsEdit

In Sweden, the superstition of the merman (Template:Langx) 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.<ref name="grafstroem&forssell"/>

There is a Swedish ballad (Template:Langx) entitled "Hafsmannen" about a merman abducting a girl; the Danish ballad "Rosmer Havmand" is a cognate ballad based on the same legend.<ref name="goedecke"/><ref name="child_ballad-rosmer"/>

"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.<ref name="kramer"/>

English folkloreEdit

English folklorist Jacqueline Simpson surmises that as in Nordic (Scandinavian) countries, the original man-like water-dwellers of England probably lacked fish-like tails.<ref name=simpson&roud/> A "wildman" caught in a fishnet, described by Ralph of Coggeshall (Template:C.) was entirely man-like though he liked to eat raw fish and eventually returned to the sea.<ref name=simpson&roud/> Katharine Mary Briggs opined that the mermen are "often uglier and rougher in the British Isles".<ref name=briggs/>Template:Efn

Mermen, which seldom frequent American folklore, are supposedly depicted as less beautiful than mermaids.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Celtic folkloreEdit

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").<ref name=markey/>

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.<ref>Traditional Cornish Stories and Rhymes, Lodenek Press, 1972</ref> Similarly vengeful water spirits occur in Breton and Gaelic lore, which may relate to pre-Christian gods such as Nechtan.

China and JapanEdit

In China and in Japan, there are various accounts of "human-fish" ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, Chinese: rényú, Japanese: ningyo), and these presumably occurred in male forms also.

However, Chinese human-fish have been described (and illustrated) as resembling a catfish,<ref name="shanhaijing-strassberg-renyu-humanfish"/> and not quite so human-like (cf. merfolk#Renyu or human-fish).<ref name="shanhaijing-strassberg-renyu-humanfish">Template:Cite book</ref>

Illustrated depictions of male ningyo do exist from the Edo Period (cf. Ningyo§Male ningyo). One example is the picture of Template:Nihongo hand-copied by the young lord of Hirosaki Domain.<ref name="aomori_museum-otokoningyo"/> Another is the illustrated sheet of kawaraban newspaper carrying news of the Template:Nihongo,<ref name="nishimaki"/><ref name="fukushima_museum"/> bearing the face of an old man.<ref name="kushida"/>Template:Refn

Hairen or kaijinEdit

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} In China and Japan there are also accounts of the "sea human" ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, 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 ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}), actually written by a European.Template:Sfnp Here Ai Rulüe (Giulio Aleni) stated that there are two kinds of hairen. The example of the first kind had a beard.Template:Efn<ref name="zhifang_waiji1843"/>Template:Sfnp

The second type of hairen described by Aleni was actually a female woman,Template:Efn identifiable as the Template:Interlanguage link captured in 1403, with drooping skin, as if she were dressed in [a pao {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} type of robe].Template:EfnTemplate:Sfnp<ref name="zhifang_waiji1843"/>

Later, a Japanese source (Nagasaki bunkenroku) gave description of the kaijin encompassing features of both types: it had chin hairTemplate:Efn as well as a skin flap around the waist similar to a hakama.<ref name="hirokawa-nukigaki"/><ref name="fujisawa1925"/> 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.<ref name="caomuzi"/><ref name="ikeda_shiroujirou"/> It has been equated with the umibōzu ("sea-priest, sea acolyte priest") yōkai of Japan.<ref name="ikeda_shiroujirou"/>

Folklore elsewhereEdit

Template:More citations needed In Finnish mythology, a Template:Ill, 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.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

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.<ref name="calvino">Template:Cite book</ref>

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.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

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.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

In heraldryEdit

File:Vöyri-Maksamaa.vaakuna.svg
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.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Hoaxes and sideshowsEdit

Template:See also

File:Banff Merman.jpg
The Banff "merman" on display at the Indian Trading Post, Banff, Alberta

Template:Multiple image 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.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Although billed as a "mermaid", this has also been bluntly referred to as a "Barnum's merman" in one piece of journalism.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> 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.Template:Sfnp

A similar fake "mermaid" at the Horniman MuseumTemplate:Sfnp has also been relabeled by another curator as a "merman",<ref name=viscardi>Template:Cite news;</ref> where "mermen" or "feejee mermaids" are used as generic terms for such concocted mummies.Template:Sfnp 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.<ref name=viscardi/>Template:Sfnp

Another "merman" specimen supposedly found in Banff, Alberta, is displayed at the Indian Trading Post.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

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.Template:SfnpTemplate:Better source needed Several natural history books published around this time (Template:Circa) 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.Template:EfnTemplate:Sfnp

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.Template:Sfnp

Literature and popular cultureEdit

Matthew Arnold wrote a poem called "The Forsaken Merman" about a merman whose human wife abandoned him and their children.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> 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,<ref name="toshi"/> while in J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter, a race of merpeople live in a lake outside Hogwarts.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

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.<ref name="toshi">Template:Cite book</ref> In the DC Comics mythology, mermen are a common fixture of the Aquaman mythos, often showing a parochialistic rivalry with humanoid water-breathers. In the Supergirl comics of the 1960s, Supergirl had a relationship with a merman named Jerro, similar to Supermans relationship with mermaid Lori Lemaris. The mermen or merfolk also appear in the Dungeons & Dragons game.<ref>Gygax, Gary, and Dave Arneson. Dungeons & Dragons (3-Volume Set) (TSR, 1974)</ref> Three mermen are featured in the music video for Madonna's 1989 song "Cherish".<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

See alsoEdit

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Explanatory notesEdit

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ReferencesEdit

Citations

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Bibliography

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