Editing Mermaid (section)

== Etymologies ==
[[File:Leighton-The Fisherman and the Syren-c. 1856-1858.jpg|thumb|upright=1|''The Fisherman and the Syren'', by [[Frederic Leighton]], c. 1856–1858]]
The English word "mermaid" has its earliest-known attestation in [[Middle English]] ([[Chaucer]], ''[[The Nun's Priest's Tale|Nun's Priest's Tale]]'', c. 1390). The compound word is formed from "''{{linktext|mere}}''" (sea), and "{{linktext|maid}}".<ref name="oxforddictionaries1">{{cite web|title= Mermaid |publisher=Oxford |work = Dictionaries | url = http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/mermaid?q=mermaid | archive-url = https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20181120055042/https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/mermaid | url-status = dead | archive-date = 20 November 2018 | access-date= 16 April 2012}}</ref><ref name="oed-mermaid">{{OED|mermaid}}; Murray, James A. H. ed. (1908) ''A New Eng. Dict.'' '''VI''', s.v."[https://books.google.com/books?id=M6ojAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA360 mermaid]"</ref>

=== Mermin ===
{{hatnote|See [[#Scandinavian folklore|§ Scandinavian folklore]] for the modern Danish {{lang|da|{{linktext|havfrue}}}}, modern Swedish {{lang|sv|hafsfru}}, etc.}}

Another English word "†mermin" ({{linktext|headword}} in the [[Oxford English Dictionary|OED]]) for 'siren or mermaid' is older, though now obsolete.<ref name="oed-mermin">{{OED|mermin}}; Murray, James A. H. ed. (1908) ''A New Eng. Dict.'' '''VI''', s.v."[https://books.google.com/books?id=M6ojAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA361 mermin]"</ref> It derives from [[Old English]] {{lang|ang|męremęnen}}, ad. {{lang|ang|męre}} 'sea' + {{lang|ang|męnen}} 'female slave',<ref name="oed-mermin"/> earliest attestation {{lang|ang|mereminne}}, as a gloss for "siren", in ''[[Corpus Glossary]]'' (c. 725).<ref name="oed-mermin"/>

A Middle English example {{lang|enm|mereman}} in a bestiary (dated to 1275–1300<ref name="arundel-catalogue"/>) is indeed a 'mermaid', part maiden,<ref name="oed-mermin"/> part fish-like.{{Refn|name="MEBestiary"}}<!--ref name="ME-bestiary-ed-morris"/-->{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|And despite the misleading spelling not a variant of "{{linktext|merman}}" (first used seventeenh century)<ref name="oed-mermin"/>}}<ref name="ME-bestiary-ed-morris"/>

Its [[Old High German]] cognate {{lang|goh|merimenni}}{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|The word occurs variously as OHG {{lang|goh|merimenni, merime<sup>n</sup>i, meriminni, meriminnun, meriminna, merminno}}.{{sfnp|Pakis|2010|p=126, n40}} Schade's dictionary uses OHG "{{lang|goh|meremanni}}" as headword.<ref name="schade-altd_woerterbuch"/>}} is known from biblical glosses{{sfnp|Pakis|2010|p=126, n40}}<ref name="althochdeutschen-glossen"/>{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|They are glosses to ''sirenes'' at [[Isaiah 13#verse 21|Isiah 13:21]] where Hebrew ''ya'anah'' ({{lang|hbo|יִעֲנָה}}), mod. Eng. bibl. tr. "ostriches" was translated as sirens by the Septuagint and Vulgate.{{sfnp|Pakis|2010|p=126, n40}}}} and [[Physiologus]].{{Refn|name="Vienna-ONB-223"}}

The [[Middle High German]] cognate '''{{lang|gmh|merminne}}''',<ref name="oed-mermin"/> (mod. German "{{lang|de|meerweib}}"), "mermaid", is attested in epics,<ref name="lexer-merminne">Lexer (1872) ''Mittelhochdeutsches Handwörterbuch'', s.v. "[https://woerterbuchnetz.de/?sigle=Lexer&lemid=LM01525#1 mer-minne]"</ref> and the one in ''[[Rabenschlacht]]'' is a great-grandmother<!-- hence not so much '-maid', as '-woman', Ger. ''weib'' or ''frau'', Sw. ''fru''--> of [[Witege|Wittich]];{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|She is Wâchilt, whose great-grandson ({{langx|de|Urenkel}}) is Wittich.<ref name="paul"/> In other words she is [[Wayland the Smith|Velent/Wieland]]'s grandmother.<ref name="buchholz"/> or "Wittich's father's father's mother",<ref name="davidson1958"/> in the [[Dietrich Cycle]].}} this same figure appears in an [[Old Swedish]] text a '''{{lang|mis|haffru}}''',<ref name="didriks_saga-ed-hylten-cavallius"/>{{Refn|[[Þiðreks saga]] or "Dietrich's saga". But the great-grandmother's involvement is only known from the Swedish version<ref name="davidson1958"/><ref name="paff-p073"/> (Swedish epilogue{{sfnp|Paff|1959|p=129}}), from the fifteenth century Swedish reworking.<ref name="didriks_saga-ed-hylten-cavallius"/>}}{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|She is deemed an '{{linktext|undine}}' by one modern commentator.{{sfnp|Paff|1959|p=129}}<!--rather than a mermaid-->}} and in Old Norse a {{lang|non|{{linktext|sjó|kona}}}} (''siókona'' [sic.]; "sea-woman").{{Refn|Earlier portion of the Old Norse ''Þiðreks saga''.<ref name="thidrekksaga-kap84(57)"/>}}<ref name="buchholz"/><ref name="bashe"/>

Old Norse {{lang|non|'''[[marmennill]]''', -dill}}, [[masculine noun]], is also listed as cognate to "†mermin", as well as ON {{lang|non|margmelli}}, modern Icelandic {{lang|is|marbendill}}, and modern Norwegian ''marmæle''.<ref name="oed-mermin"/>

=== Merewif ===
Old English {{lang|ang|męrewif}} is another related term,<ref name="oed-mermaid"/> and appears once in reference not so much to a mermaid but a [[Grendel's mother|certain sea hag]],<ref name="bosworth-toller-merewif">Bosworth-Toller (1882), s.v. "[https://books.google.com/books?id=oXlii1KgDngC&pg=PA680 mere-wíf]"</ref><ref name="beowulf-ed-klaeber">''Beowulf'', Klaeber ed. (2008) [1936]. [https://books.google.com/books?id=8ek3p6ILv8wC&pg=PA52&q=merewif v. 1519]</ref> and not well-attested later.<ref name="oed-mermaid"/>{{efn|That is, the OED's entry for gave "cf. OE {{lang|ang|męrewif}} and {{smallcaps|Mermin}} [in small capitals]", meaning there is an entry for the latter but not the former.}}

Its MHG cognate {{lang|gmh|merwîp}}, also defined as "{{lang|de|meerweib}}" in modern German<ref name="schade-altd_woerterbuch"/> with perhaps "{{linktext|merwoman}}"<ref name="oed-merwoman">{{OED|merwoman}}; Murray, James A. H. ed. (1908) ''A New Eng. Dict.'' '''VI''', s.v."[https://books.google.com/books?id=M6ojAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA365 merwoman]", "name for the mermaid when older or wedded".</ref> a valid English definition.{{Refn|As "merwoman" is used for {{lang|gmh|merwîp}}, e.g., at {{harvp|Grimm|Stallybrass tr.|1883|p=490}} re the ''Nibelungenlied'' example.}} The word is attested, among other medieval epics, in the ''[[Nibelungenlied]]'',<ref name="lexer-merwip">Lexer (1872) ''Mittelhochdeutsches Handwörterbuch'', s.v. "[https://woerterbuchnetz.de/?sigle=Lexer&lemid=LM01525#0 mer-wîp]"</ref> and rendered "merwoman",{{sfnp|Grimm|Stallybrass tr.|1883|p=490}} "mermaid", "water sprite", or other terms;<ref name="lionarons"/> the two in the story<ref name="nibelungenlied"/> are translated as ON {{lang|non|{{linktext|sjó|konur}}}} ("sea-women").<ref name="lionarons"/>