| 释义 |
† mermin Obs.
Forms: 1 meremenin, -en (gen. pl. meremenna, -mennena), 1, 3 meremen, 3 mereman, mer(e)minne, mermyn(n.
[OE. męremęnen, app. f. męre sea, mere n.1 + męnen neut., female slave:—prehistoric *manînom; cf. ON. man neut., slave (male or female), girl. Corresponding or cognate forms in other Teut. langs. are OHG. meremanni, merimenni, mer(i)-min neut., meriminna fem. (MHG. mereminne, merminne fem.), Du. meermin fem., mermaid or siren, ON. marmennill, -mendill masc., merman, triton (mod.Icel. corruptly marbendill; also ON. margmelli, mod.Norw. marmæle, prob. an etymologizing perversion, as if ‘one who speaks much’).
The 13th c. form mereman prob. belongs here rather than to merman, which does not otherwise occur before 17th c.]
A mermaid or siren.
c725Corpus Gloss. (Hessels) S 349 Sirina, meremenin. c1000Ags. Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker 506/5 Sirenarum, meremennena. c1050Ags. Voc. ibid. 277/28 Serina, meremen. c1205Lay. 1321 Þer heo funden þe merminnen [Wace seraines] þ̶ beoð deor of muchele ginnen. c1220Bestiary 557 Ðe mereman is a meiden ilike on brest and on bodi. a1225Leg. Kath. 1500 Ah ich drede þæt tis dream me dreie toward deaðe, as deð mereminnes. 1382Wyclif Josh. Prol., The deth berynge songis of mermynns [Jerome mortiferos Sirenarum cantus]. 1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) V. 397 Þe oost of Rome siȝ mermyns in liknes of men and of wommen [Higd. sirenæ in specie viri et mulieris]. |