sea-elf

plural sea-elves

1. A merman or mermaid.

   TRITON. n seaelf, half man and half fish.

   1859, Hyde Clarke, New and Comprehensive Dictionary of the English Languge, London: John Weale, page 413, column 2

   2 more examples

   You may dare to face a howitzer's mouth, You may brave a wild beast's rage, And you'll know less dread with the first or last Than this old sea-elf - I'll wage; Yet he seem'd such a downright sociable ghost That I flinched not from his gage.

   1833, The Olio: Collected by a Literary Traveller, Boston, page 184

   When the moon is afloat, And the ocean at rest, The sea-elf goes forth To the town he loves best: Up from his cave, over the wave, With joy in his breast.

   1896, Vincent O'Sullivan, Poems, London: Elkin Mathews, page 4