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Myths, Legends and History of Mermaids
Definition
"A supernatural sea-dwelling of general
European maritime folklore: German Meerfrau,
Danish Maremind, Cheremissian wutian uder.
The Irish mermaid, murduac, is Anglicized to
merrow..." (Ratisseau).
Mermaids are also defined as beautiful,
dangerous to men, have the head and upper
body of a woman and a fish body instead of
legs including a tail. Sometimes, mermaids
are depicted as having to fins in the place
of legs on a woman's body. Some stories say
that they can assume human form and come on
land. And some are said to lure sailors to
their death with their beautiful voices.
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