Meaning of sea monk | Babel Free

Definitions

1. Monk seal.
   dated
2. A sea creature in European folklore (in the 16th century), a sort of fish that resembled (and was sometimes robed or tonsured like) a European monk.

Examples

“[…] three sea monks being found in 1530, 1546 and 1549. In fact the first sea monk was not a sea monk at all, having been found in the Rhine. The second one was found near Copenhagen with a black head and the clothes of a monk and the final one was found near Hafnia (Copenhagen), tonsured like a monk. […] Nonetheless walruses remain a possible explanation for the occurrence of sea monks prior to 1546.”

“Sea monks had failed to assert themselves into the popular imagination the way mermaids had. They lacked a certain appeal. The few pictorial depictions stuck a tonsured human head on a fish body, scaly fins and tail forming the monk's ...”

CEFR level