Editing Mermaid (section)

== Origins ==
The [[Siren (mythology)|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}}''.<ref name="Mittman Dendle 2016 p. 352">{{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}}</ref>

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

=== Sirens ===

In the early Greek period, the sirens were conceived of as human-headed birds,<!--seventh century BC-->{{sfnp|Holford-Strevens|2006|pp=17–18}}<ref name="argonautica-4.891">Apollonius Rhodius, ''Argonautica'' IV, 891–919. [[Robert Cooper Seaton|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".</ref> but by the classical period, the Greeks sporadically depicted the siren as part fish in art.<ref>{{harvp|Milliken|2014|p=125}}, citing {{harvp|Benwell|Waugh|1965}};<!--no page given--> {{harvp|Waugh|1960|p=}}</ref>{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|The [[Megara|Megarian]] bowl, third century BC, with a scene from the ''[[Odyssey]]'', with sirens depicted as fish-tailed "tritonesses".<ref name="rotroff"/> Harrison names a clay lamp, possibly from the Roman period.<ref name="harrison"/><ref>{{harvp|Benwell|Waugh|1965|p=46}} and Fig. 3a</ref> A [[terracotta]] "mourning siren", 250&nbsp;BC, is the oldest representation of siren as mermaid familiar to Waugh.{{sfnp|Waugh|1960|p=77}}}}

==== Medieval sirens as mermaids ====

{{multiple image
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 | header= Sirens in ''Physiologus'' and bestiaries

 | 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.}}<ref name="BL-Add11283"/>}}

 | 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<br />© Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford}}}}

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The siren's part-fish appearance became increasingly popular during the Middle Ages.<ref name="harrison"/> 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 mythology|Germanic myth]], later expounded in literary legends of [[Lorelei]] and [[Undine]];<ref name="harrison" /> though a dissenting comment is that parallels are not limited to Teutonic culture.{{sfnp|Mustard|1908|p=22}}

==== Textual attestations ====

The earliest text describing the siren as fish-tailed occurs in the ''[[Liber Monstrorum|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 [[scale (anatomy)|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.<ref name="mcculloch"/>}}{{Refn|{{harvp|Pakis|2010|p=137 and n89}};{{harvp|Holford-Strevens|2006|p=29}} (both quote from the Orchard (2003) translation.<ref name="orchard"/>).}}

"Sirens are mermaids" (Old High German/Early {{langx|gmh|Sirêne sínt méremanniu}}) is explicit in the aforementioned Old German ''Physiologus'' (eleventh century<ref name="handschriftencensus-11043"/>).{{Refn|name="Vienna-ONB-223"|Vienna, [[Austrian National Library|Österreichische Nationalbibliothek]] ms. 223, fol. 32r.<ref name="altdeutsche-physiologus-TITUS"/> Maurer (1967) ed.''Der altdeutsche Physiologus'' [note 37], 92, apud {{harvp|Pakis|2010|p=126, n37}}. (olim MS Philol. 244), [[Friedrich Heinrich von der Hagen|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.<ref name="altdeutsche-physiologus-TITUS"/><ref name="handschriftencensus-11043"/>}}{{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'',<ref name="oed-mermin"/><ref>{{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.</ref> 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<ref name="ME-bestiary-ed-morris"/>}}<ref>{{harvp|Armistead tr.|2001}} vv, 391–462, pp. 85–86</ref><ref name="ME-bestiary-ed-morris"/>

[[Old French]] verse bestiaries (e.g. [[Philip de Thaun|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}}

==== Iconographic attestations ====
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.<ref name="Berne-Cod.318"/>}} the siren was illustrated as a "woman-fish", i.e., mermaid-like, despite being described as bird-like in the text.<ref name="woodruff" /><ref name="leclercq-marx" />

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.<ref name="Bodl764"/>{{sfnp|Hardwick|2011|p=92}}<ref>{{harvp|Holford-Strevens|2006|pp=31–32}}, Fig. 1.4</ref><ref name="bodley764-tr-barber"/>}}

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 manuscripts|Additional manuscript]] 11283, c. 1170–1180s. Fig., top right).<ref name="clark" />

====Mirror and comb====

While the siren holding a fish was a commonplace theme,<ref name="clark" /> 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.)<ref name="Getty-MS100-ex-Alnwick"/>}} or the mirror.{{Refn|British Library Ms. Royal 2.B.Vii, fol. 96v.{{sfnp|George|Yapp|1991|p=99}}<ref name="BL-Roy2.B.vii-catalogue"/>}}

The comb and mirror became a persistent symbol of the siren-mermaid.{{sfnp|Holford-Strevens|2006|p=36}}<ref name="peacock"/>

In the Christian moralizing context (e.g the bestiaries), the mermaid's mirror and comb were held as the symbol of vanity.<ref name="peacock"/>{{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}}<ref name="chunko-dominguez"/> 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}}<ref>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".</ref>}}

=== Other Greek mythical figures ===
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,<ref>Xenophon, citing Socrates possibly spuriously, ''apud'' {{harvp|Holford-Strevens|2006|p=22}}</ref> 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.<ref name="bain"/>}}<ref name=":0">{{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 }}</ref> 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.<ref name="thompson" />

The female [[Oceanid]]s, [[Nereids]] and [[Naiad]]s 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|§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 [[Phoenicia]]n mariners.<ref name="harrison" />

The Greek god [[Triton (mythology)|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.

=== Ancient Middle Eastern mythology ===

==== Kulullû ====
Depictions of entities with the upper bodies of humans and the tails of fish appear in [[Mesopotamia]]n artwork from the [[First Babylonian dynasty|Old Babylonian Period]] onwards, on [[cylinder seals]]. These figures are usually mermen (''[[kulullû]]''),<ref name="ornan" /> but mermaids do occasionally appear. The name for the mermaid figure may have been ''*kuliltu'', meaning "fish-woman".<ref name="BlackGreen1992" /> Such figures were used in [[Neo-Assyrian Empire|Neo-Assyrian]] art as protective figures<ref name="BlackGreen1992" /> and were shown in both monumental sculpture and in small, protective figurines.<ref name="BlackGreen1992" />

==== Syrian mermaid goddess ====
{{main|Atargatis}}
[[File:DemetriusIIICoin.png|thumb|[[Atargatis]] depicted as a fish with a woman's head, on a coin of [[Demetrius III Eucaerus|Demetrius III]]]]<!--COMMENTING OUT SOURCE with NO MATCHING CONTENT:<ref>{{cite journal|last=Rostovtseff|first=M.|title=Hadad and Atargatis at Palmyra |journal=American Journal of Archaeology|volume=37|issue=1|date=January 1933|pages=58–63|jstor=498042|doi=10.2307/498042|s2cid=191373119}}</ref> (It discusses an Atargatis tessara token "figure of a fish standing on its tail" -- not mermaid)-->
A mermaid-like goddess, identified by Greek and Roman writers as Derceto or Atargatis, was worshipped at [[Ashkelon]].<sup><ref name="macalister" /><ref name="ringgren" /></sup> 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.<ref name="grabbe" />

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}}.<ref name="hasan-rokem"/>}}<ref name="d-syra14-cowper">''De Dea Syra'', 14 ''apud'' {{harvp|Cowper|1865|pp=9–10}}</ref>

In the myth, Semiramis's first husband is named Onnes. Some scholars have compared this to the earlier Mesopotamian myth of [[Oannes (mythology)|Oannes]],{{sfnp|Smith, W. Robertson|1887|p=313–314}} one of the ''[[apkallu]]'' or seven sages described as fish-men in [[cuneiform]] texts.<ref name="breucker" />{{Refn|Oannes was later described by the Babylonian writer [[Berossus]] as having an extra human head beneath the head of its fish body.<ref name="goodman"/>{{sfnp|Waugh|1960|p=73}}}} While Oannes was a servant of the water deity [[Ea (mythology)|Ea]], having gained wisdom from the god,<ref name="breucker" /> English writer [[Arthur Waugh (author)|Arthur Waugh]] understood Oannes to be equivalent to Ea,<ref>{{harvp|Waugh|1960|p=73}}: "the first merman in recorded history is the sea-god Ea, or in Greek, Oannes",</ref> 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.<ref name="grabbe" /> There is a mermaid legend attached to Alexander the Great's sister, but this is of post-medieval vintage (see [[#Byzantine and Ottoman Greece|below]]).<ref name="russell" />

=== Rational attempts at explanation ===
{{further|#Reported sightings|#Hoaxes and show exhibitions|#Scientific inquiry}}
Sometime before 546 BC, [[Milesian school|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.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Anaximander |website=Encyclopædia Britannica |title=Anaximander |access-date=14 January 2020 |first=James |last=Evans }}</ref><ref>{{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 }}</ref>

There are also naturalist theories on the origins of the mermaid, postulating they derive from sightings of [[manatee]]s, [[dugong]]s or even [[Pinniped|seals]].{{sfnp|Waugh|1960|pp=77–78}}<ref>{{Citation | title = Dugongs and Mermaids, Selkies and Seals  | year = 1978 | page = 95 | first = A. Asbjørn | last = Jøn  | author-link=<!--A. Asbjørn Jøn--> |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.}}</ref> 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 [[Underwater diving|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 (author)|William Bond]], who has written several books about it.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/412139.William_Bond |title=William Bond |website=Goodreads |access-date=2022-04-29}}</ref><ref>{{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}}</ref>