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Mermaid or merman in Irish folklore

Merrow (from Irish murúch, Middle Irish murdúchann or murdúchu) is a mermaid or merman in Irish folklore. The term is anglicised from the Irish word murúch. The merrows supposedly require a magical cap (cochaillín draíochta; anglicised: cohuleen druith) in order to travel between deep water and dry land.

The term appears in two tales set in Ireland published in the 19th century: "Lady of Gollerus", where a green haired merrow weds a local Kerry man who deprives her of the "magical red cap" ([[#Cohuleen druith); and "The Soul Cages" where a green bodied grotesque male merrow entertains a fisherman at his home under the sea. These tales with commentary were first published in T. C. Croker's Fairy Legends (1828). William Butler Yeats and others writing on the subject borrowed heavily from this work. "The Soul Cages" turned out not to be a genuine folktale, but rather a piece of fiction fabricated by Thomas Keightley. A number of other terms in Irish are used to denote a mermaid or sea nymph, some tracing back to mythological tracts from the medieval to the post medieval period. The Middle Irish murdúchann is a siren like creature encountered by legendary ancestors of the Irish (either Goidels or Milesians) according to the Book of Invasions. This, as well as samguba and suire are terms for the mermaid that appear in onomastic tales of the Dindsenchas. A muirgheilt, literally "sea wanderer", is the term for the mermaid [[Lí Ban (mermaid).

Current scholarship regards merrow as a Hiberno English term, derived from Irish murúch (Middle Irish murdhúchu or murdúchann) meaning "sea singer" or "siren". But this was not the derivation given by 19th century writers. According to Croker, "merrow" was a transliteration of modern Irish moruadh or moruach, which resolved into muir "sea" + oigh "maid". This "Gaelic" word could also denote "sea monster", and Croker remarked that it was cognate with Cornish morhuch, a "sea hog". Yeats added murrúghach as an alternative original, as that word is also synonymous with mermaid. The corresponding term in the Scots dialect is morrough, derived from the Irish, with no original Scottish Gaelic form suggested. The Middle Irish murdúchann, (from muir + dúchann "chant, song") with its singing melodies that held sway over seamen was more characteristic of the sirens of classical mythology, and was imported into Irish literature via Homer's Odyssey.

The terms muirgeilt, samguba, and suire been listed as synonymous to "mermaid" or "sea nymph". These are Old or Middle Irish words, and usage are attested in medieval tracts. Other modern Irish terms for mermaid are given in O'Reilly's dictionary (1864); one of them, ("sea maiden"), being the common term for "mermaid" in Irish today (cf. de Bhaldraithe's dictionary, 1959). The term muirgeilt, literally "sea wanderer", has been applied, among other uses, to [[Lí Ban (mermaid), a legendary figure who underwent metamorphosis into a salmon woman. Strictly speaking, the term samguba in the Dindsenchas example signifies "mermaid's melody". However, O'Clery's Glossary explains that this was rhetorically the "name of the nymphs that are in the sea". The term suire for "mermaid" also finds instance in the Dinsenchas. Croker also vaguely noted that suire has been used by "romantic historians" in reference to the "sea nymphs" enountered by Milesian ships.

Thomas Crofton Croker's Second Volume to the Fairy Legends (1828) laid the groundwork for the folkloric treatment of the merrow. It was immediately translated into German by the Brothers Grimm. Croker's material on the merrow was to a large measure rehashed by such authors on the fairy kind as Thomas Keightley, John O'Hanlon, and the poet William Butler Yeats. Refn|group="lower alpha"|Kinahan vaguely puts this as "several volumes [of the Fairy Legends] between 1825 and 1828". To be more precise, the first volume appeared in 1825, followed by a second edition in 1825. The Grimms published the German translation in 1825. Croker produced the second volume in 1828, with additional tales. Croker did point out that the merrow's hat shared something in common with "feather dresses of the ladies" in two Arabian Nights tales. However, he did not mean the merrow's hat had feathers on them. As other commentators have point out, what Croker meant was that both contained the motif of a supernatural woman who is bereft of the article of clothing and is prevented from escaping her captor. This is commonly recognized as the "feather garment" motif in swan maiden type tales. The cohuleen druith was also considered to be of red color by Yeats, although this is not indicated by his predecessors such as Croker. An analogue to the "mermaid's cap" is found in an Irish tale of a supernatural wife who emerged from the freshwater Lough Owel in Westmeath, Ireland. She was found to be wearing a salmon skin cap that glittered in the moonlight. A local farmer captured her and took her to be his bride, bearing him children, but she disappeared after discovering her cap while rummaging in the household. Although this "fairy mistress" is not from the sea, one Celticist identifies her as a muir óigh (sea maiden) nevertheless. The Scottish counterpart to the merrow's cap was a "removable" skin, "like the skin of a salmon, but brighter and more beautiful, and very large", worn by the Maid of the wave. It was called in Scottish Gaelic cochull, glossed as 'slough' and "meaning apparently a scaly tail which comes off to reveal human legs", Scottish lore speaks of a certain hag or sea hag (Muilghertach, Muirghertach, quite similar sounding to the Irish king's name, and she too is applied the "of the leather cloak" ("A Mhuilgheartach nan cochull craicinn")) in derisive manner in a waulking song. Muilghertach bears resemblance to the sea ogress margýgr in Old Norse texts, in the opinion of Reidar Thoralf Christiansen. and thus only the brutish male merrow of real world mythology are properly represented therein. In the Magic: The Gathering card game, "Merrows" are a type of merfolk, native to the plane of Lorwyn/Shadowmoor. They are friendly, white/blue aligned freshwater merchants, healers, and guides, dwelling in the clear streams of the "sunny" aspect of the plane (Lorwyn), and mischievous, blue/black aligned brackish water looters and assassins dwelling in the bogs of the "dusk" aspect of the plane (Shadowmoor). In the Puyo Puyo games, "Merrow" (メロウ) is a type of mermaid, part of the Scales Fish People (うろこさかなびと). One of the other Scales Fish People is Seriri, a blue haired mermaid. Unlike Seriri, Merrow has a pink hair and a more haughty look. A pink mermaid is the first mermaid to appear in the Madou Monogatari games, that predate the Puyo Puyo games. Jennifer Donnelly's fantasy series the Waterfire Saga has an ancient mermaid ruler in its mythology named Merrow. Merrow was the first [[queen regnant in the fictional place of Miromara in the series. In the Harry Potter tie in book Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, merrows are said to be one of three subspecies of merpeople, along with Scottish selkies and Greek sirens. In Kentaro Miura's manga Berserk, Merrow are the name given to a race of mer folk. In Jess Kidd's "Things in Jars", the merrow is a pale girl with eyes that change color between white and black. She has sharp, fish like teeth, and frequently bites. Her bite is fatally poisonous to men, but not women. She also has some control over water, and causes the river in London to rise, threatening a flood. She attracts snails and newts, which she eats. In Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon, a Múruch is a rare faerie creature who has the reputation of having a power of a one faerie army. Faerie kings often allied themselves to this kind of creature, and this was an easy way of becoming the next faerie king. In Nioh and Nioh 2 there is a guardian spirit that resembles the Merrow called Saoirse that follows William.

(III. Note on the River Ailbhiné gives text and translation of Book of Ballymote version, followed by notes).