The Western concept of mermaids as beautiful, seductive singers may have been influenced by the sirens of Greek mythology, which were originally half-birdlike, but came to be pictured as half-fishlike in the Christian era.

German "meerweib"), "mermaid", is attested in epics,[11] and the one in Rabenschlacht is a great-grandmother of Wittich;[d] this same figure appears in an Old Swedish text a haffru,[15][18][e] and in Old Norse a sjókona (siókona [sic.

Jane Ellen Harrison (1882) has speculated that the mermaids or tritonesses of Greek and Roman mythology may have been brought from the Middle East, possibly transmitted by Phoenician mariners.

[106] Though conceived of as swan-maidens in Wagner's 1848 scenario, the number being a threesome was suggested by the woodcut by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld and Eugen Napoleon Neureuther in the Pfizer edition of 1843 (fig.

In Sadko (Russian: Садко), an East Slavic epic, the title character—an adventurer, merchant, and gusli musician from Novgorod—lives for some time in the underwater court of the Sea Tsar and marries his daughter, Chernava, before finally returning home.

A merfolk race called the Di people [zh] are described as populating its own nation in the Shanhaijing (Classic of Mountains and Seas) compilation of Chinese geography and mythology, dating from the fourth century BC.

There is also an account of the hairenyu [ja](海人魚; literally "sea human fish"), given in the Taiping guangji compilation, sourced from the work entitled Qiawenji (洽聞記).

The anecdote in the lost Cuyiji ("Records of Bygone Extraordinay Things") from the Northern Song period,[208][207][209] survives in quotes, e.g., from leishu compilation Gujin tushu jicheng (古今圖書集成 "Comprehensive Compendium of Illustrations and Books, Ancient and Modern").

[212] Another tale concerns a mermaid named Sinjike (Korean: 신지끼) who warned fishermen of impending storms by singing and throwing rocks into the sea from Geomun Island.

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

However, Sekien's ningyo picture actually represents a "human-fish" that lives in Western China, also known as the Di people Diren [zh], according to the inscription printed alongside.

[260][262] According to one telling, on Friday nights, the rock of Pico splits and emits a light beam, followed by Alamoa's appearance, attracting men; but she will then transform into skull and skeleton,[263] resulting in disappearances, except cries of terror can be occasionally heard.

[268][273][270][ae] Sixteenth-century Swedish writer Olaus Magnus quotes the same passage from Pliny, and further notes that the nereid are said to utter "dismal moans (wailings) at the hour of her death", thus observing a connection to the legend of sea-nymphs[274] and the sister Fates whose clashing cymbals and flute tunes could be heard on shore.

[284] Danish physician and natural historian Thomas Bartholin wrote about a mermaid specimen caught in Brazil (probably a manatee[285]) and subsequently dissected at Leiden.

[286][288] Though referred to in the text as a "sea-man" (homo marinus) from Brazil, the account was accompanied by an engraved drawing captioned "Sirene", whose appearance was that of a humanoid female with bared breasts (a mermaid).

[ak][294][295] A type of mermaid referred to as "anthropomorphus"[297] or "woman-fish" (Spanish: peche mujer[298]) allegedly inhabited the Spanish-ruled Philippines, particularly in the waters around the Visayan Islands, according to contemporary writings from the seventeenth century.

[308] These books refer to the mermaid/merman as "piscis anthropomorphos" (Dutch: Anthropomorphus),[al] and emphasize how human-like they appear in their upper bodies, as well as providing woodcut or etchings illustrating the male and female of the part-human part-fish creature.

[316] Allegedly captured in the Moluccas in the seventeenth century was the so-called "Amboina mermaid" (after the then Dutch Province of Ambon),[319][ap] which its leading researcher has referred to as Samuel Fallours's "Sirenne", after the man who came into possession of it and made an original painting of it in full color.

[341] In August 2009, after dozens of people reported seeing a mermaid leaping out of Haifa Bay waters and doing aerial tricks, the Israeli coastal town of Kiryat Yam offered a $1 million award for proof of its existence.

[348] Fake mermaids made in China and the Malay Archipelago out of monkey and fish parts were imported into Europe by Dutch traders since the mid-sixteenth century, and their manufactures are thought to go back earlier.

Jan Cock Blomhoff, the Dutch East India Company director stationed in Dejima, Nagasaki is known to have acquired merfolk mummies; these and other specimens are now held in the National Museum of Ethnology in Leiden, Netherlands.

[374] One of the main literary influences for Andersen's mermaid was Undine, an earlier German novella about a water nymph who could only obtain an immortal soul by marrying a human.

[375] Andersen's heroine inspired a bronze sculpture in Copenhagen harbour and influenced Western literary works such as Oscar Wilde's The Fisherman and His Soul and H. G. Wells' The Sea Lady.

Countries with public art mermaid sculptures include Russia, Finland, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Denmark, Norway, England, Scotland, Ireland, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Spain, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Greece, Turkey, India, China, Thailand, South Korea, Japan, Guam, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Ecuador, Colombia, Mexico, the Cayman Islands, Mexico, Saudi Arabia (Jeddah), the United States (including Hawaii and the U.S. Virgin Islands) and Canada.

An example of late British Academy-style artwork, the piece debuted to considerable acclaim (and secured Waterhouse's place as a member of the Royal Academy), but disappeared into a private collection and did not resurface until the 1970s.

Musical depictions of mermaids include those by Felix Mendelssohn in his Fair Melusina overture and the three "Rhine daughters" in Richard Wagner's opera Der Ring des Nibelungen.

A 1963 episode of the television series Route 66 entitled "The Cruelest Sea of All" featured a mermaid performance artist working at Weeki Wachee aquatic park.

The film Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides mixes old and new myths about mermaids: singing to sailors to lure them to their death, growing legs when taken onto dry land, and bestowing kisses with magical healing properties.

[393] Mermaids appear on the coat of arms of Ustka, Białobrzegi and Białobrzegi County (Poland), Seeboden am Millstätter See (Austria), Bray (Ireland), Santa Colomba de Curueño, Ruente, Bertizarana, Villanueva de la Serena (Spain), Päijät-Häme (Finland), Åsgårdstrand (Norway), Royat, Xammes, Lancieux, Erquy, Chens-sur-Léman, Didenheim, Wimereux (France), Eemsmond, Makkum, Uithuizermeeden (Netherlands), Waasmunster (Belgium), and Westerdeichstrich (Germany).

[396][397] IV.9 Tiberio principi nuntiavit Olisiponensium legatio ob id missa visum auditumque in quodam specu concha canentem Tritonem qua noscitur forma.