Dictionary of Pencak Silat and other Malaysia-Indonesian Traditional Martial Arts

This is a dictionary of word used in Pencak Silat and other martial arts in Indonesia and Malaysia.

Why This Dictionary edit

Why a dictionary ?

Indonesian archipelago as the source of Pencak Silat consist of many tribes which uses different language and different dialect. Pencak Silat as an umbrella term for this region traditional martial arts brought different words from different language and dialect. Some school even have different definition for the same word use by others.

Therefore, a dictionary for the term used by practitioner of Pencak Silat and other martial arts in the region is needed as a bridged introduction to these arts.

Why not an encyclopedia?

Most of history in Malaysia and Indonesia is transmitted by oral. They are rarely written and thus, some claims are heavily disputed. Thus, instead of having a detail of explanation of a topic as what an encyclopedia does, a dictionary of words would probably more appropriate.

Why include ‘other Malaysian and Indonesian Traditional Martial Arts’?

Because, there are other martial arts came from this region and they didn’t want to be considered as Pencak or Silat. For example, Benjang from West Java, Timbang from West Java, and Mepantigan from Bali.

Why include ‘Malaysian’?

First of all, please do not be a chauvinist. While most of Pencak Silat came from Indonesia, Malaysia have their proud of Silat. Indonesia shared a lot of culture with Malaysia, and fight over it is futile if not stupid.

Why not include South Thailand (Pattani) and Philippines?

Because they rarely speak Malay. Indonesian, although each ethnic have their own language, speak Indonesian Language as a first language and the language is based on Malay language. Malaysian, well, they have ‘Malay’ in their country names.

Well, okay, you can put some word from Pattani and South Philippines related to Pencak Silat or any traditional martial arts.

Why not using Wiktionary?

Because the entry will be spread among pages and topics in Wiktionary while this dictionary is meant to collect those related word.

The Style of Dictionary edit

The word being defined is in bold, followed by a bold-italic word represent the type of word whether they are noun, verb, or adjective. Then, an italic word surrounded by bracket for the region or the school where the word come from.

For example:

  • rasa n (Indonesia, Malay) sense, feeling
  • lihiak n (Minang) neck
  • cikalong n (place) A region in Cianjur, West Java

The Type of Word can be Included in This Dictionary edit

  1. a common word related to the martial art like a word to describe ‘fast’, ‘stance’, ‘low’, or anatomy part like ‘hand’ or ‘groin’;
  2. a location;
  3. a fighting system;
  4. school name;
  5. a movement name;

What This Dictionary Is Not edit

  1. This dictionary is not a place to claim something which may provoke others. Do not define your school as ‘the only school who learn the original and the pure teaching of this person’;
  2. This dictionary is not a place to dispute a claim. If you see an outrageous claim, do not delete, do not fight. Edit the claim to have a neutral tone.
  3. This dictionary is not a place for promotion. If you open or join a school which teach Pencak Silat, put your school name here perhaps is not a good idea unless it have some degree of notability for example, the school have been opened in a long time. It is a subjective things but please be considerate when you put a school on this dictionary.
  4. This dictionary is not an encyclopedia. It may have a long definition. It may give some example. It may have pictures. But please keep it short and concise.

Table of Content edit