Mermaids : ideas about the origin

This article examines the cartographic projection of the distribution of motifs related to the origin of the mermaid on the territory of Belarus and adjacent areas, based on the database of the Belarusian Folklore and Ethnolinguistic Atlas (BFELA), which is analyzed by describing and comparing withparallel motifs in the folklore of Slavic peoples. This study is designed to determine the reality of the above-mentioned motifs, their archaic or innovative nature, possible connection with neighboring (primarily Ukrainian and Russian) folk traditions, as well as to characterize the likely prototypes of motifs about the origin of the mermaid. All records about the origin of mermaids within the BFELA database are divided into 25 motifs. The motifs of the first type are conventionally called variant motifs, because not only the content, but also areal similarity is found between them. These include 16 motifs, reduced to 6 main groups: motifs with calendar timing, mermaids come from children, mermaids come from girls, mermaids come from suicides and drowning men, motifs of bewitching, as well as unmapped motifs. Motifs of the second kind (9 motifs) are singular in terms of the number of entries in the database. The study shows the extreme syncretism of the content of most records, which allows them to be attributed simultaneously to different motifs. Such characteristics as the time of mermaids’ appearance, their appearance and behaviour, as well as the age, gender and social, moral, religious status of people who become mermaids are of key importance when attributing records to one or another motive.