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| Mermaids also can live in rivers. The ones who live in rivers are Wishgivers. There are special signs that can tell you if there is one in this stream. There is a leaf just sitting there, pebbles in a circle and deep water. One thing also about mermaids is that there is goingto be a new show coming out called truly blue it is going to be the best mermaid show on youtube. Subscribe!! | |||
| {{Otheruses}} | |||
| {{Infobox Paranormalcreatures | |||
| |Creature_Name = Mermaid | |||
| |Image_Name = Waterhouse a mermaid.jpg | |||
| |Image_Caption = ''A Mermaid'' by ] | |||
| |Grouping = Mythological | |||
| |Sub_Grouping = Water spirit | |||
| |Similar_creatures = ]<br />]<br />] | |||
| |Mythology = World mythology | |||
| |Country = Worldwide | |||
| |Habitat = Ocean, sea | |||
| |First_Reported = c. 1000 BC | |||
| }} | |||
| ] | |||
| A '''mermaid''' is a ] aquatic creature with a female human head and torso and the tail of a ]. Mermaids have a broad representation in folklore, literature, and popular culture. | |||
| ==Overview and etymology== | |||
| The word is a compound of ''mere'', the ] word for "sea", and ''maid'', a woman. The male equivalent is a '']''. | |||
| Much like ]s, mermaids would sometimes sing to people and gods and enchant them, distracting them from their work and causing them to walk off the deck or run their ships aground. Other stories have them squeezing the life out of drowning men while attempting to rescue them. They are also said to take humans down to their underwater kingdoms. In ]'s '']'', it is said that they forget that humans cannot breathe underwater, while others say they drown men out of spite.{{Citation needed|date=October 2009}} | |||
| The sirens of ] are sometimes portrayed in later ] as mermaid-like; in fact, some languages use the same word for both bird and fish creatures, such as the Maltese word 'sirena'. Other related types of ] or ]ary creatures are ] (e.g., various ]) and ]s, animals that can transform themselves from seals to humans.{{Citation needed|date=October 2009}} | |||
| ==History== | |||
| ===Ancient Near East=== | |||
| The first known mermaid ] appeared in ], ca. 1000 BC. ], the mother of Assyrian queen ], was a goddess who loved a mortal shepherd and in the process killed him. Ashamed, she jumped into a lake to take the form of a fish, but the waters would not conceal her divine beauty. Thereafter, she took the form of a mermaid — human above the waist, fish below — though the earliest representations of Atargatis showed her as being a fish with a human head and legs, similar to the ]n ]. The Greeks recognized Atargatis under the name Derketo. Prior to 546 BC, the ] philosopher ] proposed that mankind had sprung from an aquatic species of animal. He thought that humans, with their extended ], could not have survived early on. This idea reappeared as the ] in the twentieth century.{{Citation needed|date=October 2009}} | |||
| A popular Greek legend has ]'s sister, ], turn into a mermaid after she died.<ref></ref> She lived, it was said, in the ] and when she would encounter a ship, she would ask the sailors only one question: ''"Is King Alexander alive?"'' ({{lang-el|"Ζει ο Βασιλιάς Αλέξανδρος}};"), to which the correct answer would be: ''"He lives and reigns and conquers the world"'' (Greek: "Ζει και βασιλεύει και τον κόσμο κυριεύει"). This answer would please her and she would calm the waters and wish the ship farewell. Any other answer would spur her into a rage, whereupon she would raise a terrible storm, with certain doom for the ship and every sailor on board.{{Citation needed|date=October 2009}} | |||
| ] in ] (2nd century AD) in ''De Dea Syria'' ("Concerning the Syrian Goddess") wrote of the Syrian temples he had visited: | |||
| :"Among them - Now that is the traditional story among them concerning the temple. But other men swear that Semiramis of ], whose deeds are many in Asia, also founded this site, and not for Hera ] but for her own Mother, whose name was ]" | |||
| :"I saw the likeness of Derketo in ], a strange marvel. It is woman for half its length, but the other half, from thighs to feet, stretched out in a fish's tail. But the image in ] is entirely a woman, and the grounds for their account are not very clear. They consider fishes to be sacred, and they never eat them; and though they eat all other fowls, they do not eat the dove, for she is holy so they believe. And these things are done, they believe, because of Derketo and ], the first because Derketo has the shape of a fish, and the other because ultimately Semiramis turned into a ]. Well, I may grant that the temple was a work of Semiramis perhaps; but that it belongs to Derketo I do not believe in any way. For among the ], some people do not eat fish, and that is not done to honor Derketo."<ref>Lucian of Samosata, ''De Dea Syria'' Part 2, Chapter 14</ref> | |||
| ===Arabian Nights=== | |||
| The '']'' (''One Thousand and One Nights'') includes several tales featuring "Sea People", such as ''Djullanar the Sea-girl''. Unlike the depiction 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, the children of such unions sharing in the ability to live underwater. | |||
| In another ''Arabian Nights'' tale, "]", the ] 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, in that the underwater society follows a form of ] where concepts like money and clothing do not exist. Other ''Arabian Nights'' tales deal with lost ancient technologies, advanced ancient civilizations that went astray, and catastrophes which overwhelmed them.<ref>{{citation|title=The Arabian Nights: A Companion|first=Robert|last=Irwin|publisher=]|year=2003|isbn=1860649831|pages=211–2}}</ref> | |||
| In "]", the protagonist Bulukiya's quest for the ] leads him to explore the seas, where he encounters societies of mermaids.<ref name=Irwin>{{citation|title=The Arabian Nights: A Companion|first=Robert|last=Irwin|publisher=]|year=2003|isbn=1860649831|page=209}}</ref> "Julnar the Sea-Born and Her Son King Badr Basim of Persia" is yet another ''Arabian Nights'' tale about mermaids. When sailors come the mermaids sing, and some men are led straight to their doom. If they follow the mermaids' lovely and beautiful voices, they do not know what they are doing or where they're going. | |||
| ===British Isles=== | |||
| ], c. 1856–1858]] | |||
| Mermaids were noted in British folklore as unlucky omens – both foretelling disaster and provoking it.<ref name="briggs">Katharine Briggs, ''An Encyclopedia of Fairies, Hobgoblins, Brownies, Boogies, and Other Supernatural Creatures'', "Mermaids", p 287. ISBN 0-394-73467-X</ref> Several variants of the ] '']'' depict a mermaid speaking to the doomed ships; in some, she tells them they will never see land again, and in others, she claims they are near shore, which they are wise enough to know means the same thing. They can also be a sign of rough weather.<ref>Francis James Child, ''The English and Scottish Popular Ballads'', v 2, p 19, Dover Publications, New York 1965</ref> | |||
| Some mermaids were described as monstrous in size, up to {{convert|2000|ft|m}}.<ref name="briggs"/> | |||
| Mermaids could also swim up rivers to freshwater lakes. One day, in a lake near his house, the ] of Lorntie saw, as he thought, a woman drowning, and went to aid her; a servant of his pulled him back, warning that it was a mermaid, and the mermaid screamed after that she would have killed him if it were not for his servant.<ref>K. M. Briggs, ''The Fairies in English Tradition and Literature'', p 57 University of Chicago Press, London, 1967</ref> | |||
| On occasion, mermaids could be more beneficent, giving humans means of cure.<ref>Katharine Briggs, ''An Encyclopedia of Fairies, Hobgoblins, Brownies, Boogies, and Other Supernatural Creatures'', "Mermaids", p 288. ISBN 0-394-73467-X</ref> | |||
| Some tales raised the question of whether mermaids had immortal souls to answer it in the negative.<ref>Katharine Briggs, ''An Encyclopedia of Fairies, Hobgoblins, Brownies, Boogies, and Other Supernatural Creatures'', "Mermaids", p 289. ISBN 0-394-73467-X</ref> The figure of ] appears as a sanctified mermaid, but she was originally a human being transformed into a mermaid; after three centuries, when Christianity had come to Ireland, she came to be baptized.<ref>Katharine Briggs, ''An Encyclopedia of Fairies, Hobgoblins, Brownies, Boogies, and Other Supernatural Creatures'', "Liban", p 266-7. ISBN 0-394-73467-X</ref> | |||
| Mermen were also noted as wilder and uglier than mermaids, but they were described as having little interest in humans.<ref>Katharine Briggs, ''An Encyclopedia of Fairies, Hobgoblins, Brownies, Boogies, and Other Supernatural Creatures'', "Mermen", p 290. ISBN 0-394-73467-X</ref> | |||
| ===Warsaw Mermaid=== | |||
| ] | |||
| The mermaid, or ''syrenka'', is the symbol of ].<ref>{{cite web| url =http://www.ucl.ac.uk/atlas/polish/mywarsaw/warsaw10.html |title =The Mermaid | accessdate = 2008-02-11 }}</ref> Images of a mermaid have been used on the crest of Warsaw as its symbol since the middle of the 14th century.<ref>{{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 | accessdate = 2008-07-10 }}</ref> Several legends associate ] of mythology with the city, which may have been where the association with mermaids originated.<ref name="legend">{{en icon}} {{cite web |author = |url = http://www.e-warsaw.pl/miasto/herb-1.htm |title = History of Warsaw's Coat of Arms |work = www.e-warsaw.pl |publisher = |pages = |page = |date = |accessdate = 2008-07-10}}</ref> | |||
| ===Other=== | |||
| Among the ] of the Caribbean the mermaid is called Aycayia.<ref></ref><ref>{{cite web | last=Bennett | first=Lennie | title=Four exhibitions woven into 'Textures' | url=http://www.tampabay.com/features/visualarts/article680572.ece | date=July 10, 2008 | work=tampabay.com | publisher=St. Petersburg Times | accessdate=2009-04-25 }}</ref> Her attributes relate to the goddess ], and the hibiscus flower of the majagua tree ].<ref></ref> Examples from other cultures are the ] of ] and ], the ] of ], the ] of Ireland and Scotland, the ]s of Russia and ], the ] from Brazil and the Greek ]s, ]s, and ]s. One freshwater mermaid-like creature from European folklore is ], who is sometimes depicted with two fish tails, and other times with the lower body of a ]. It is said in Japan that eating the flesh of a ] can grant unaging ]. In some European legends mermaids are said to be unlucky.{{Citation needed|date=October 2009}} | |||
| Mermaids and ] are also characters of ], where they are locally known as '']'', respectively.<ref name="TE">"Tagalog-English Dictionary by Leo James English, Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, Manila, distributed by National Book Store, 1583 pages, ISBN 971910550X</ref> The Javanese people believe that the southern beach in Java is a home of Javanese mermaid queen ].{{Citation needed|date=October 2009}} | |||
| Mermaids are said to be known for their vanity, but also for their innocence. They often fall in love with human men, and are willing to go to great extents to prove their love with humans (see ]). Unfortunately, especially with younger mermaids, they tend to forget humans cannot breathe underwater. Their male counterparts, ], are rarely interested in human issues, but in the ] merpeople are able to grant wishes, heal sickness, lift curses, brew magic potions, and sometimes carry a ]. Mermaids share some of the same characteristics.{{Citation needed|date=October 2009}} | |||
| ==Claimed sightings== | |||
| Claimed sightings of dead or living mermaids have come from places such as ] and ]. There are two Canadian reports from the area of ] and ], one from sometime between 1870 and 1890, the other from 1967.<ref></ref><ref></ref> | |||
| In August 2009, the town of ] in Israel offered a prize of US$1 million for anyone who could prove the existence of a mermaid off its coast, after dozens of people reported seeing a mermaid leaping out of the water like a dolphin and doing aerial tricks before returning to the depths.<ref>, '']'' 12 Aug. 2009.</ref> | |||
| ==Symbolism== | |||
| According to ]’s book, ''The Mermaid and the Minotaur'', human-animal hybrids such as the minotaur and the mermaid convey the emergent understanding of the ancients that human beings were both one with and different from animals: <blockquote>" 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."<ref name=Dinnerstein>], ''The Mermaid and the Minotaur''. New York: Harper and Row, 1963. Cited by </ref></blockquote> | |||
| ==Art and literature== | |||
| {{See also|Mermaids in popular culture}} | |||
| ] mermaid chair]] | |||
| One influential image was created by ], from 1895 to 1905, entitled ''A Mermaid'', (see the top of this article). An example of late British Academy style artwork, the piece debuted to considerable acclaim (and secured Waterhouse's place as a member of the ]), but disappeared into a private collection and did not resurface until the 1970s. It is currently in the collection of ].{{Citation needed|date=October 2009}} | |||
| The most famous in more recent centuries is ]'s ] '']'' (1836), which has been translated into many languages. Andersen's portrayal, immortalized with a famous bronze sculpture in ] harbour, has arguably become the standard and has influenced most modern Western depictions of mermaids since it was published. The mermaid, as conceived by Andersen, appears to represent the ] of ], which also could only obtain an immortal soul by marrying a human being.{{Citation needed|date=October 2009}} | |||
| The best known musical depictions of mermaids are those by ] in his ''Fair Melusina'' overture and the three "Rhine daughters" in ]'s ]. ], the name of one of the Rhine mermaids, has become a synonym for a siren. A more recent depiction in contemporary concert music is ''The Weeping Mermaid'' by Taiwanese composer ].{{Citation needed|date=October 2009}} | |||
| ] has written a book called '']''. The title comes from a mermaid who becomes a (fictional) saint.{{Citation needed|date=October 2009}} | |||
| Movie depictions include the comedy ] (]) starring ]. A 1963 episode of the hit television series ], featured an episode ''The Cruelest Sea'' about a real mermaid working at ] aquatic park. Mermaids also appeared in the popular supernatural drama television series '']'', and were the basis of its ] series '']''. Animated films include ]'s popular musical version of Andersen's tale, and ]'s '']''.{{Citation needed|date=October 2009}} | |||
| ===Heraldry=== | |||
| ] | |||
| In ], the charge of a mermaid is commonly represented with a comb and a mirror, and blazoned as a 'mermaid in her vanity'. Merfolk were used to symbolize eloquence in speech.{{Citation needed|date=October 2009}} | |||
| A shield and sword-wielding mermaid ('']'') is on the official ], the capital of ]. The city of ] also uses a mermaid as a symbol, and a civic art project with variously decorated mermaid sculptures has been displayed all over the municipal area. The capital city of ] has the mermaid in its coat of arms, displayed across the city.{{Citation needed|date=October 2009}} | |||
| The personal coat of arms of ], Canada's ], features two ], mermaid-like spirits from ]an ], as supporters.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.gg.ca/heraldry/pub-reg/project-pic.asp?lang=e&ProjectID=929&ProjectElementID=3456| last=Canadian Heraldic Authority| title=The Public Register of Arms, Flags, and Badges of Canada > Michaëlle Jean| publisher=Queen's Printer for Canada| date=20 September 2005| accessdate=23 September 2008}}</ref> | |||
| ==Hoaxes== | |||
| During the ] and ] eras, ]s, ] and victims of ] were exhibited in ]s as mermaids.{{Citation needed|date=October 2009}} | |||
| In the 19th century, ] displayed in his museum a ] hoax called the ''].'' Others have perpetrated similar hoaxes, which are usually ] fabrications or parts of deceased creatures, usually monkeys and fish, stitched together for the appearance of a grotesque mermaid. In the wake of the ], pictures of Fiji "mermaids" circulated on the Internet as supposed examples of items that had washed up amid the devastation, though they were no more real than Barnum's exhibit.<ref></ref> | |||
| ==Sirenia== | |||
| ] is an order of fully aquatic, herbivorous ]s that inhabit rivers, estuaries, coastal marine waters, swamps, and marine wetlands. Sirenians, including ] and the ], have major aquatic adaptations: arms used for steering, a paddle used for propulsion, hind limbs (legs) are two small bones floating deep in the muscle. They appear fat, but are fusiform, hydrodynamic, and highly muscular. Prior to the mid 19th century, mariners referred to these animals as mermaids.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.underwatertimes.com/news.php?article_id=05297681013 |title=Experts: Sea cow 'sirens' fuel mermaid mythology; sailors' deprivation sparked images |date=December 25, 2005 |work=underwatertimes.com |accessdate=October 30, 2009 }}</ref> | |||
| ==Sirenomelia== | |||
| ], also called "mermaid syndrome", is a rare ] ] in which a child is born with his or her legs fused together and the ] are reduced. This condition is about as rare as ], affecting one out of every 100,000 live births<ref name="Kallen">{{cite journal |author=Kallen B, Castilla EE, Lancaster PA, Mutchinick O, Knudsen LB, Martinez-Frias ML, Mastroiacovo P, Robert E |title=The cyclops and the mermaid: an epidemiological study of two types of rare malformation |journal=J Med Genet |year=1992 |pages=30–5 |volume=29 |issue=1 |pmid=1552541 |doi=10.1136/jmg.29.1.30}}</ref> and is usually fatal within a day or two of birth because of ] and ] complications. Four survivors were known to have been alive as of July 2003.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6WKP-4950J75-14&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_rig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=e3c14c888d56c7c1a6191a3567cfd7c5 |title=Journal of Pediatric Surgery: A surviving infant with sirenomelia (mermaid syndrome) associated with absent bladder |date=25 July 2003 |accessdate=2008-02-16 |work=ScienceDirect}}</ref> | |||
| ==See also== | |||
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| ==References== | |||
| {{reflist}} | |||
| ==External links== | |||
| {{commons}} | |||
| {{Wiktionary|mermaid}} | |||
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| * by Heinz Insu Fenkl, from the mermaid-themed Summer 2003 issue of the ''Journal of Mythic Arts'' | |||
| * from Lucian of Samosata's ''On the Syrian God'' (2c. AD) | |||
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Revision as of 23:56, 12 February 2010
Mermaids also can live in rivers. The ones who live in rivers are Wishgivers. There are special signs that can tell you if there is one in this stream. There is a leaf just sitting there, pebbles in a circle and deep water. One thing also about mermaids is that there is goingto be a new show coming out called truly blue it is going to be the best mermaid show on youtube. Subscribe!!