50 Fun Facts About Mermaid

The English word 'mermaid' combines 'maid' with an old word 'mere' meaning what?

Its earliest known use is in Chaucer's Nun's Priest's Tale, around 1390.

What is the male equivalent of a mermaid called?

Together they are merfolk; mermen are described in folklore as wilder, uglier and less interested in humans.

What did Christopher Columbus most likely see when he reported three 'sirenas' off Hispaniola in 1493?

He complained they were not as beautiful as painted, having rather masculine faces.

The sirens of early Greek myth were originally depicted as women joined to what kind of creature?

They only became fish-tailed in the medieval Christian era; French and Spanish still call a mermaid 'sirène' or 'sirena'.

In the Odyssey, how does Odysseus manage to hear the sirens' song and survive?

His crew rowed with wax in their ears while he strained at the ropes.

What is the earliest text to describe the siren as fish-tailed rather than bird-like?

This 7th- or 8th-century book of monsters called them 'sea girls' with the scaly tail of a fish.

In medieval bestiaries, the mermaid's comb and mirror were held up as symbols of what?

The comb and mirror became the mermaid's persistent props for centuries after.

Which mermaid-like goddess, also called Derceto, was worshipped at Ashkelon?

In the myth she drowned herself in shame and was transformed; her abandoned daughter grew up to be Queen Semiramis.

Which fish-tailed son of Poseidon later lent his name to sea-men in general?

Neither Poseidon nor Amphitrite had tails themselves.

What is probably the earliest surviving artistic depiction of a mermaid in England, from about 1078?

It sits on a capital above one of the chapel's original Norman pillars.

In the Cornish legend of Zennor, the mermaid fell in love with a chorister named what?

The tale grew out of a 15th-century mermaid carved on a bench in the village church.

Melusine, the mermaid-like figure of European folklore, was cursed to take what form from the waist down?

In the medieval romance the curse strikes every Saturday, when her husband must never see her.

On which day of the week did Melusine's curse transform her, according to the medieval romance?

The Plantagenets and the Lusignan kings of Cyprus were both said to descend from her.

The Starbucks logo depicts what, according to the company itself?

The 1971 original was topless with a fully visible double tail; the hair was rearranged in 1987.

Which Scottish creatures shapeshift between seal and human by removing their skin?

They belong mainly to Orkney and Shetland; a ceasg is a Scottish freshwater mermaid.

What is the Japanese equivalent of the mermaid called?

The word literally means 'human-fish', and it was usually drawn as a woman's head on a fish body.

In Japanese legend, how long did Yao Bikuni live after eating human-fish flesh?

Her name literally means 'eight-hundred-year Buddhist priestess'.

Mami Wata, the water spirit of West Africa, is thought by scholars to have developed from what?

Her later look was shaped by a 19th-century print of a European snake charmer.

Rusalki, the water spirits of Slavic folklore, were traditionally said to be the souls of what?

One story has a rusalka tickle her victims to death while laughing.

In Brazilian folklore, which river-dwelling beauty lures fishermen with her singing?

She grew out of the Tupinambá water-devil Ipupiara and later took on the look of European mermaids.

Which explorer's crew reported a mermaid in the Arctic Ocean on 15 June 1608?

It was on his second voyage, in either the Norwegian or Barents Sea.

The Fiji mermaid exhibited by P. T. Barnum in 1842 was actually made from what?

A sea captain had bought it from Japanese sailors in 1822 for $6,000 of his ship's money.

Which Florida attraction has staged live underwater mermaid shows since 1947?

Stunt swimmer Newt Perry built the show around breathing from underwater air hoses.

In 2009, which Israeli coastal town offered $1 million for proof of a mermaid seen leaping in Haifa Bay?

Dozens of people had reported a mermaid doing aerial tricks at sunset.

In 2012, workers in which African country quit reservoir sites, saying mermaids chased them?

Among the Shona, mermaid-like spirits are called njuzu.

A sword-and-shield-wielding mermaid, the Syrenka, appears on the coat of arms of which capital city?

A mermaid has stood for the city since the middle of the 14th century.

Who wrote the literary fairy tale 'The Little Mermaid', published in 1837?

It appeared in Copenhagen in his collection Fairy Tales Told for Children on 7 April 1837.

In Andersen's tale, at what age is a mermaid first allowed to swim to the surface?

Disney's Ariel is sixteen; Andersen's heroine is the youngest of six sisters.

According to Andersen's grandmother mermaid, how long do mermaids live?

Unlike humans, they have no immortal soul and simply turn to sea foam at death.

What does the sea witch take from the Little Mermaid in exchange for legs in Andersen's original story?

She has the most enchanting voice in the world, and the witch cuts it out.

What happens to Andersen's Little Mermaid at the end of the original tale?

Because she was pure of heart she is given a chance to earn an immortal soul.

Who commissioned Copenhagen's Little Mermaid statue in 1909?

He was smitten by a ballet of the story and asked its ballerina to model.

Whose body did Edvard Eriksen use for the Copenhagen statue after the ballerina refused to pose nude?

Ellen Price's face stayed, but Eline Eriksen provided the rest.

In which year was the Copenhagen statue's head first sawn off and stolen?

Artists of the Situationist movement, among them Jørgen Nash, were behind it.

What is the name of the sea witch in Disney's 1989 The Little Mermaid?

She keeps Ariel's voice in a nautilus shell; Melissa McCarthy played her in the 2023 remake.

Which number won The Little Mermaid (1989) the Oscar for Best Original Song?

The film is generally credited with starting the Disney Renaissance.

Who provided the speaking and singing voice of Ariel in 1989?

The directors insisted the same person sing and speak the part.

Ariel is the youngest of how many daughters of the sea king?

Her look drew on Christie Brinkley, a 16-year-old Alyssa Milano and live-action reference model Sherri Stoner.

Who played Ariel in the 2023 live-action remake?

The film grossed more than $569 million worldwide.

In Splash (1984), how does the mermaid played by Daryl Hannah choose her human name?

She cannot pronounce her real name in human language, so she picks one off the sign.

Splash was the very first film released under which Disney label created for adult audiences?

Ron Howard directed, and the screenplay earned an Oscar nomination.

The girls of H2O: Just Add Water become mermaids after a full moon at a pool on which island?

The pool lies beneath a dormant volcano.

Which actress made her film debut in the 1990 comedy-drama Mermaids, alongside Cher and Winona Ryder?

Cher clashed with two directors before Richard Benjamin finished the film.

The mammals most often mistaken for mermaids belong to which order, named for the sirens?

It includes dugongs and their cousins; Steller's sea cow was hunted to extinction by 1768.

Which pre-Socratic philosopher argued that humans sprang from an aquatic animal species?

He reasoned that helpless human infants could not otherwise have survived.

On which Copenhagen waterside promenade does the Little Mermaid statue sit?

The bronze is just 1.25 metres tall and was unveiled on 23 August 1913.

For which event was the Little Mermaid statue first officially moved away from Copenhagen?

It spent May to October at the Danish Pavilion, nearly a century after being installed.

Which sea captain bought the future Fiji mermaid from Japanese sailors in 1822 for $6,000?

He dipped into his ship's expense account; his son later sold it to Moses Kimball of the Boston Museum, who showed it to Barnum.

Which English poet provides the earliest known attestation of the word 'mermaid', around 1390?

An older Old English term, 'mermin', combined 'sea' with a word for a female slave.

In Mesopotamian art, the fish-tailed figures on cylinder seals were usually mermen called what?

They appear from the Old Babylonian Period onwards, though mermaids do occasionally feature too.