Can anyone post all the kinship terms for kung fu schools or clans like "hing dai", "si hing", "si mu", etc.?
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Can anyone post all the kinship terms for kung fu schools or clans like "hing dai", "si hing", "si mu", etc.?
Sigung = Grandmaster/teacher's teacher
Sifu = Master/teacher
Sibaak = Senior Uncle
Siguma = Senior Aunt
Sisuk = Junior Uncle
Siguje = Junior Aunt
Sihing = Senior Brother
Sijeh = Senior Sister
Simui = Junior Sister
Sidai = Junior Brother
Toudai = Student/indoor student
Tousyunneui = Female Grandstudent
Tousyun = Male Grandstudent
These are the ones I know of, plus the two at the bottom are from a reference I found on the web.
Hing dai - the hing is the same hing in sihing (兄) which means elder brother. The dai means 'big' (大), which adds more respect to the term. Sometimes you might hear it as dai sihing. The meaning is more or less the same.
Simu - the mu, usually pronounced mou in Cantonese (母), means mother. This is the term you use to address the wife of your Sifu. However, a female Sifu is still addresses as Sifu, not Simou. Her husband is also addresses as Sifu. I think that's a Confucian thing.
Gene-I was taught that Hing as in older, Dai-as in younger (Si-dai) Different character for dai. therefore Hing-dai is fellow training brothers,
Ji-Mui fellow training sisters.
So are there two different Hing-Dai?
I've always assumed it was a derivation of Dai Sihing, but I don't speak Cantonese. I stand corrected.
The character 母 is mu in Mandarin and mou in Cantonese. Some say the character is symbolic of breasts, which is easy enough to visualize. Muqin (母親) is the formal term for mother. I'd have to see the character for this Simo. Note that I'm not a native speaker and don't really have any grasp of Cantonese beyond studying under a Hong Kong master (as you know Gino) for a few decades.
No such thing.
Even in you were metaphorical "twins" (born on the same day) there is still going to be one of you who kneeled and presented tea before the other one. Even if it was only earlier than you by one minute, that person is your shixiong and you are the shidi (Cantonese: Sihing and Sidai)
Don't forget that traditionally "seniority" is the same in Kungfu as in the workplace. It has nothing to do with rank or belts or what you've learned. It's simply a measure of how long you have been Sifu's student.
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Interestingly, in northern China...well in Xi'an anyways...instead of Simu (师母) the term of preference is (Mandarin) Shiniang (师娘). It's an oddly old fashioned term as "niang"/娘 is a term for "mother" that you don't hear in contemporary Chinese. You usually only hear it in period pieces on TV.