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mermaid

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mermaid

Mythical sea creature (the male is a merman), having a human head and torso, often of great beauty, and a fish's tail. Suggested animals behind the myth include the dugong or manatee and seal.

Mermaids were capable of living on land and entering into social liaisons with ordinary mortals, although such relationships generally ended in disaster.

Fish gods represented as half fish, half human appear in a number of ancient Middle Eastern mythologies, including the Babylonian two-headed water god Ea or Enki, and the Phoenician Dagon or El, father of Baal.



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? Mentioned in ? References in classic literature
 
Her final employment was to gather seaweed of various kinds, and make herself a scarf or mantle, and a head-dress, and thus assume the aspect of a little mermaid.
The Scarlet Letter by Hawthorne, Nathaniel View in context
But is the Queen a mermaid, to be presented with a tail?
Moby Dick LXVIII-CXXXIV by Melville, Herman View in context
She eluded me like the mermaid she was, and I saw the laughter on her face as she fled.
The Red One by London, Jack View in context
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