Wikipedia:WikiProject Martial arts/Loanwords

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Loanwords are words of foreign origin which have been adopted into another language without significantly altering their original meaning. This page is a subpage of WikiProject Martial Arts, and is concerned exclusively with listing and debating whether martial arts-related terms have been adopted as loanwords into English.

Extablishing a particular word's status as a loanword is relevant only insofar as the Manual of Style is concerned, as loanwords are treated like other English words, and non-loanwords should be italicized every time they appear. Further, the accepted loanword spelling or romanization is how the word should appear when it is the title of an article, as well as every time it appears in the article, except when correct spelling or romanization is being specifically discussed or indicated parenthetically.

This page includes guidelines for debating whether a word is a loanword, as well as a series of tables with words which have been approved or rejected as loanwords, divided by language of origin.

Contents

[edit] Guidelines for determining loanwords

There is no bright-line rule for loanwords. Even if there were such a general rule, this is Wikipedia, so in any event, consensus rules. For the purpose of establishing consensus within the project, there are two important guidelines.

  1. Ubiquity. This is obviously very subjective, but simply, is the word widely known in English? Regarding the name of a martial art, is the name well known not only by non-practitioners of that art, but by non-martial artists? The Manual of Style (Japan-related articles) is a helpful example. It gives several examples of Japanese loanwords, such as Tokyo, sushi, futon, tycoon, and tsunami (as well as jujutsu and dojo, which are repeated below). So before lobbying for a word's inclusion as a loanword, ask yourself, "is this term as ubiquitous as 'sushi' or 'tsunami'?" If not, perhaps it should not be considered a loanword.
  2. The "dictionary test". This is an objective test: does the word appear in an English dictionary? Two specific dictionaries have been linked and referenced here (Merriam-Webster Online, and The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Langage, 4th ed.), because they are both extremely well known and respected, and have free web access for word searches. This permits reliability, reproducibility and transparency when debating a word. Again, a word's presence or absence in either of these dictionaries is not conclusive of its loanword status, but the dictionary test should be considered highly persuasive. If a word does not appear in either of these dictionaries, but does appear in others, this may be given due weight, also.

What follows is a series of tables, divided by language of origin, alphabetically listing words that have been accepted or rejected after consensus was reached. If you believe that a word should be accepted as a loanword, or would like to dispute the acceptance or rejection of a word, please discuss at our talk page. Before making a request, please be aware that this page is not intended to exaustively list every martial arts-related loanword; please confine requests to words that are currently being or likely to be contested.

[edit] Chinese

The following are two tables for words of Chinese origin which have either been accepted or rejected as loanwords in English.

[edit] Loanwords (Chinese)

Loanword Passes dictionary test Trad. Chinese Simp. Chinese Pinyin Wade-Giles Literal translation Discussion
Webst.[1] Am. Her.[2]
kung fu yes yes 功夫 功夫 gōngfu achievement through great effort here
tai chi chuan yes (as
"tai chi")		 yes (as
"tai chi")		 太極拳 太极拳 tàijíquán t'ai4 chi2 ch'üan2 supreme ultimate boxing; great extremes boxing here

[edit] Rejected words (Chinese)

None at this time.

[edit] Japanese

The following are two tables for words of Japanese origin which have either been accepted or rejected as loanwords in English.

[edit] Loanwords (Japanese)

Loanword Passes dictionary test Kanji Hiragana Rev. Hepburn Kunrei-shiki Literal translation Discussion
Webst.[1] Am. Her.[2]
aikido yes yes 合気道 あいきどう aikidō aikidô way of joining energy; way of harmonizing life force
dojo yes yes 道場 どうじょう dōjō dôsyô way place here
judo yes yes 柔道 じゅうどう jūdō zyûdô way of softness/gentleness
jujutsu yes yes 柔術 じゅうじゅつ jūjutsu zyûzyutu art/science of softness/gentleness here
karate yes yes 空手 からて karate karate empty hand
kendo yes yes 剣道 けんどう kendō kendô way of the sword here

[edit] Rejected words (Japanese)

Rejected
word		 Passes dictionary test Kanji Hiragana Rev. Hepburn Kunrei-shiki Literal translation Discussion
Webst.[1] Am. Her.[2]
iaido no no 居合道 いあいどう iaidō iaidô way of mental presence and immediate reaction here
iaito no no 居合刀 いあいとう iaitō iaitô sword of mental presence and immediate reaction here
kempo no no 拳法 けんぽう kenpō kenpô fist principles/method here, here, here, and here
kyudo no no 弓道 きゅうどう kyūdō kyûdô way of the bow here

[edit] Korean

The following are two tables for words of Korean origin which have either been accepted or rejected as loanwords in English.

[edit] Loanwords (Korean)

Loanword Passes dictionary test Hangul Hanja Rev. Rom. McC.-Reisch. Literal translation Discussion
Webst.[1] Am. Her.[2]
taekwondo yes (as
"tae kwon do")		 yes (as
"tae kwon do")		 태권도 跆拳道 tae gwon do t'ae kwŏn do way of striking with feet and fists here, and here

[edit] Rejected words (Korean)

Rejected
word		 Passes dictionary test Hangul Hanja Rev. Rom. McC.-Reisch. Literal translation Discussion
Webst.[1] Am. Her.[2]
gup no no 급 geup kŭp grade here

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e www.m-w.com (2007). Merriam-Webster Online. Merriam-Webster, Inc.
  2. ^ a b c d e www.bartleby.com/61/ (2000). American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Bartleby.com, Inc.