Editing Mermaid (section)

==== Seventeenth-century Visayas ====
[[File:Jonston1657-Tab-XL-piscis-anthropomorphos.jpg|thumb|300px|'''Anthropomorphos'''{{right|{{small|―Johannes Jonston ''Historia naturalis'' in Latin, 1657<ref name="jonston1657-latin"/>}}}}]]
A type of mermaid referred to as "'''anthropomorphus'''"<ref name="jonston1660-nl"/> or "woman-fish" ({{langx|es|'''peche mujer'''}}<ref name="ojeda"/>) allegedly inhabited the Spanish-ruled [[Philippines]], particularly in the waters around the [[Visayas|Visayan Islands]], according to contemporary writings from the seventeenth century.{{Refn|The incidents of capture and localities are as follows (the actual sources/authors will be elaborated in the citation footnotes to follow.):
* In Kircher and Jonston's writings, the place of capture is given as the Insulas Pictorum near the Visayas,<ref name="kircher-magnes"/><ref name="jonston1657-latin"/> namely, the "Island[s] of the Artist[s]".<ref name="jacob"/> A group of islands within the Visayas (including e.g. ([[Mindoro]]) was known as the ''Islas de los Pintados'' ('Islands of the Painted People').<ref name="prichard"/> Therefore referring to the locality as somewher within the present-day Visayas<ref name="ojeda"/> The Dutch translation rendered the islands, not as "the Islands of the Painted/Painters", but as "the Picten Islands", in turn understood to mean "the Islands of the Picts".<ref name="jongh"/>
* Colin identified the habitat as the Philippine waters and Malacca ([[Strait of Malacca]]).<ref name="colin"/>
* Nvarette while visiting Mindro (aforementioned island),<ref name="braeunlein&lauser"/> writes of the abundance of fish and the presence of "woman-fish" under the heading o NanboanNanboan<ref name="navarrete-tr-churchill"/> (namely [[Naujan|Nauján]]).<ref name="navarrete-tr-cummins"/>).}}

The accounts are found in several books, on various topics from magnetism, to natural history, to ecclesiastical history.{{Refn|[[Athanasius Kircher]]  ''Magnes sive De arte magnetica'' (1641),<ref name="kircher-magnes"/> whose account is reiterated in [[Johannes Jonston]] ''Historiae naturalis de piscibus et cetis libri 5'' (in Latin, 1657; Dutch translation ''Beschryvingh van de Natuur der Vissen en bloedloze Water-dieren'', 1660).<ref name="jonston1660-nl"/> Also {{interlanguage link|Francisco Colín|es}} (1663) ''Labor evangelica'',<ref name="colin"/> [[Domingo Fernández Navarrete]] ''Tratados historicos, politicos, ethicos, y religiosos de la monarchia de China'' (1676).<ref name="navarrete-tr-churchill"/><ref name="navarrete-tr-cummins"/>}}

These books refer to the mermaid/merman as "''piscis anthropomorphos''" ({{langx|nl|Anthropomorphus}}),{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Kircher's Latin text actually resorts to writing out "piscis ανθρωπόμορφος" partly in Greek ([[Greek ligatures|Greek ligature]] is used for the final omicron-sigma).<ref name="kircher-magnes"/> Jonston's Latin version uses "anthropomorphos"; the Dutch translator changed this to "-morphus" in the text, though the caption remained "-phos" in the engraving.<ref name="jonston1660-nl"/>}} 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.<ref name="kircher-magnes"/><ref name="jonston1660-nl"/>

The "woman-fish" (or {{lang|es|peche mujer}} in modern Spanish<ref name="ojeda"/>){{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|In the primary sources, variously spelt in
[[Middle Spanish]] as {{lang|es|peche muger}},<ref name="kircher-magnes"/> {{lang|es|pez muller, pexe muller}},<ref name="colin"/> etc.}}) was the name given to the creature among the Spaniards, but the sources also state it was called "duyon" by the indigenous people.<ref name="kircher-magnes"/><ref name="jonston1657-latin"/>{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|The word is "duyong" in the Ilongo ([[Hiligaynon language|Hiligaynon]]) or [[Palawano language]] of the Bisayans.<ref name="polistico"/>}} and it is assumed the actual creature was a dugong (according to modern translators' notes).<ref name="navarrete-tr-cummins"/><ref name="navarrete-tr-blair&robertson"/>{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|According to Navarrete, an indigenous man had confessed to having nightly sexual intercourse with a ''piscis mulier'' or ''pexemulier '' "said to resemble a woman from the breasts down" .<ref name="navarrete-tr-churchill"/><ref name="navarrete-tr-blair&robertson"/>}}

Several of these sources mention the medical use of the woman-fish to control the flow of blood (or the [[four humours]]). It was effective for staunching the bleeding, i.e., effective against hemorrhages, according to Jonston.{{Refn|Appropriating "remedy for hemorrhages" which is Castiglioni's paraphrase{{sfnp|Castiglioni|2021|p=22}} of {{interlanguage link|Ōtsuki Gentaku|ja|大槻玄沢}} writing {{nihongo|shiketsu|止血/血を止む|extra='stop the bleeding'}} in his Japanese translation of Johnston.<ref>Otsuki Gentaku (1786) ''Rokumotsu shinshi'', fols. 24–[https://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/2555433/28 25]</ref>}} Other sources mention the ability to stop bleeding, e.g. Colín,<ref>{{harvp|Cummins|2017|p=82}}, footnote.</ref> who also thought that the Philippine woman-fish tasted like fatty pork.{{Refn|Colín, on the "Pez Muller" (marginalia) or "Pexe Muller/Duyon" (text): "me pareciò su carne como de torcino gordo"}} The bones were made into beads (i.e., strung together), as it was believed effective against {{linktext|defluxion}}s (of the humours).{{Refn|Navarrete, Cummins tr.: "{{URL|1=https://books.google.com/books?id=-gckDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT129 |2=singular virtue against Defluxions}}".<ref name="navarrete-tr-cummins"/><ref name="navarrete-tr-churchill"/>}}