The Origin & Myth of the Mermaid

I wrote this for a Mythology class, but with Aquaman being such a hit, I thought I'd publish it here, too.

For World Religions & Mythology, we were allowed to research the history, origin and meaning of nearly any creature we wanted to. Having had a thing for Mermaids for ages, I jumped all over that. There was so much I didn't know, right down to origins here to Florida.

MerFact: "Mermaid" in French is Sirène.

The Myth of the Mermaid

Public perception of mermaids being sweet, beautiful creatures couldn’t be more skewed. That is a sugar-coated Disney version. The original Little Mermaid, penned in 1836 by Hans Christian Andersen, was a darker tale and closer to the sirens murderous, tortured origin.

Mermaids were known in stories to be soul-less killers, to lure, and have their tongues cut out.

History...

In roughly 1000 B.C., goddess Atargatis was the first mermaid of record in Assyria, which is present day Syria and Northern Iraq. Atargatis fell in love with a mortal shepherd and accidentally killed him during sexual intercourse. She threw herself into the sea from shame, but her curse was that she could not die or become fully transformed into a fish, so she retained her human beauty from waist up with a scaled fish tail for legs, trapped alone for all eternity.

Approximately 4,000 years ago, Ea was noted as the Babylonian god of the sea. The merman was an all-purpose deity with a positive spin, providing humans with arts and sciences along with necessary battles. Ea would later be adopted by the Greeks as Poseidon and by the Romans as Neptune.

Nereids, Tritons, and mermaids were written about in scientific detail by the Greeks as an entire sirens-of-the-sea culture. This version would go on to be the foundation of The Little Mermaid story based on a German version of a mermaid named Undine, who must marry a human in order to obtain a soul.

Amphitrite the Nereid and God of the Sea Poseidon were the parents of merman Triton. The Tritons were a culture of mermen and mermaids originating from Ea. “Nereid” was defined as being sea-nymphs and daughters of Neptune...who was also (the same) God of the Sea. This story is the likely inspiration for the Aquaman character in DC comics (1941) and the film (2019).

For what it’s worth, it was common practice for human royal families to marry relatives, too. They thought it kept the bloodlines pure and the wealth safe. Thus the uproar when someone dared marry outside the system. We now know that marrying relatives creates crazy, which has given us some highly entertaining royal history and a slew of Oscar nominated films. #BadDecisionsMakeGreatStories

MerFact: You can see a Mermaid show live at the Weeki Watchi state park in Florida.

Various countries have different versions of mermaid origins and beliefs.

Russian mermaids lack a fish tail and are thought to be the undead remains of females who died tragically, living on the bottom of rivers and lakes. These nymphs have perpetually wet hair as they would die if it dried, and often carry a comb which allows them to conjure water while on land. They could be dangerous, pulling young men into the waters, and were known to come out at night and seduce by singing in trees or meadows.

In China, mermaids have webbed hands and feet.

Brazilians gave mermaids green hair and beautiful singing voices in which to lure a young man into the water to live out his life with her.

South Korea has the legend of a sweet mermaid with dark hair and pale skin who smashes rocks against cliffs and makes sounds to warn fishermen of impending storms.

The Philippines allowed mermaids to have both evil and good traits; either murdering men after luring them, or rescuing drowning sailors, depending on her mood that evening.

In New Zealand, there’s a story of a mermaid who married a tribal chief and lived a dual life, spending her nights with her husband and son, and days with her mer-people. She’s eventually forced to flee when her husband attempted to make her permanently human.

Meaning...

Mermaids symbolize choosing between normal and the unfamiliar regarding love.

Some reasons a mermaid is said to lure seafarers could be to offer refuge, salvation or pleasure, escape, or perhaps even death. Some experts suggest the symbolism means letting our hearts and passion overrule the analytical mind.

Sometimes our attractions don't have to make sense - and it's perfectly fine to be captured by odd, unique, and otherworldly.

Mermaids also symbolize fun, sexy, fleeting and taboo. Words and phrases associated with "mermaid" include: Seductive, Untamed, Elusive, Feminine, Perceptive, Mystery, Private, Emotional, Tempestuous, Intuitive, Free, Fluid, Sensual, Elusive, Knowing, Death and Enchanting Voice.

MerFact: Bettie Page was immortalized as a mermaid (here) by artist Olivia de Bernardinis.

Manatees!

As much as I’d love these tales to be true, the reality of mermaids comes from two sources: dugongs and manatees coupled with whistling winds.

Christopher Columbus, in his first journey to the Americas, caught a glimpse of three "mermaids" off the prow of his ship, writing in his journal:

"On the previous day [8 Jan 1493], when the Admiral went to the Rio del Oro [Haiti], he said he quite distinctly saw three mermaids, which rose well out of the sea; but they are not so beautiful as they are said to be, for their faces had some masculine traits." (Voyages of Columbus 218)."

Manatees and dugongs, with their fins, tail stands, arms and six-foot tall stature, were taken as sea humans from a distance.

The female dugong displays extraordinary devotion towards her young, cradling them while simultaneously swimming in an upright position. This endearing attribute, together with the dugong’s near-human appearance and proportions when viewed from a distance, is likely the basis for mariners' tales of mermaids.

When wailing winds imitated song, so created was the legend of the Mermaid.

Fin.

-April K.

Resources:

How Manatees Became Mermaids. (2017, February 17). Retrieved February 17, 2017, from http://news.nationalgeographic.com/…/141124-manatee-awaren…/

Radford, B. (2014, November 15). Mermaids & Mermen: Facts & Legends. Retrieved February 17, 2017, from http://www.livescience.com/39882-mermaid.html

Simon, M. (2014, October 15). Fantastically Wrong: The Murderous, Sometimes Sexy History of the Mermaid. Retrieved February 17, 2017, from https://www.wired.com/…/fantastically-wrong-strange-murder…/

The Dugong: Mermaid Myth, Modern Reality. (n.d.). Retrieved February 17, 2017, from http://www.serendib.btoptions.lk/article.php…

Royal Intermarriage: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_intermarriage

Always be yourself, unless you can be a mermaid.

Then, always be a mermaid.