EVEN THE MOST STRANGE NAMES MEAN SOMETHING

What Do The Names Of These 10 Martial Arts Mean?

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The most famous martial arts often have mysterious, exotic names, reminding us of their remote origins. But these disciplines had to start somewhere and their names, while unusual to us, have meanings that are more straightforward than we might believe. Read on to find out what karate, kung fu, or jiu-jitsu means.

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One of the most famous martial arts in the whole world, karate’s physical aspects seek the development of defensive and counterattacking body movements. The themes of traditional karate training are fighting and self-defense, though their mental and moral aspects target the overall improvement of the individual.

The word karate is a combination of two Chinese characters (kanji): kara, meaning ‘empty,’ and te, meaning ‘hand;’ thus, karate means "empty hand."

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Taekwondo is a traditional Korean martial art that has become a global sport, gaining an international reputation and standing among the official games in the Olympics.

The term "Taekwondo" is composed of three parts as shown in the English spelling, though it is one word in Korean. Tae means ‘foot,’ ‘leg,’ or ‘to step on;’ Kwon means ‘fist,’ or ‘fight;’ and Do means ‘the way’ or ‘discipline.’

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Kung Fu is a martial art practiced all over the world by people from many different cultures. The term Kung Fu is made up of two characters: the first, Kung, can mean ‘skillful work,’ ‘hard training,’ or ‘endeavor.’ The second, Fu means ‘time spent.’ Together they mean "time spent at skillful work, endeavor, or hard training."

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Sipalki is a Korean martial art with Mongolian roots. It is a fast street self-defense system that uses all body parts including pressure points, grabs, hands and legs counter-attacks, immobilizations, and angles of movement.

The name is the translated expression of the Korean word Sib Fal Gui, which means "the eighteen techniques", referring to the 18 techniques that make up the core of the martial art.

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Krav-Maga is an Israeli self-defense systemknown for its focus on real-world situations. Developed for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), it is derived from a combination of techniques from Aikido, Boxing, Judo, Karate, Wrestling, and other martial arts.

Krav-Maga is a term in Hebrew, composed of two words; Krav, which means 'combat', and Maga, which means 'contact.’ So, the literal translation of the term Krav-Maga is "contact-combat."

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Savate is a French kickboxing combat sport that uses the hands and feet as weapons, combining elements of English boxing with kicking techniques. Only foot kicks are allowed, unlike some systems such as Southeast Asian boxing or kickboxing, which allow the use of the knees or shins. However, strikes to any part of the body are permitted.

Savate is a French word for "old shoe or boot". Savate fighters wear specially designed boots. A male practitioner of savate is called a tireur while a female is called a tireuse.

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A martial art with Soviet origins, Sambo is an internationally practiced combat sport developed and used by the Soviet Red Army in the early 1920s to improve their hand-to-hand combat abilities.

The word sambo is an acronym of samozashchita bez oruzhiya, which literally translates to "self-defense without weapons."

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Judo is a modern Japanese martial art and combat sport, that first originated in Japan. Its main feature is its competitive aspect, where the objective is to either throw one's opponent to the ground, immobilize or otherwise subdue with a grappling maneuver, or force an opponent to submit by joint locking the elbow or by applying a choke. The word judo means "gentle way".

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Aikido is a modern Japanese martial art now practiced in around 140 countries. It was originally developed to create an art that practitioners could use to defend themselves while also protecting their attackers from injury.

Aikido is often translated as "the way of unifying (with) life energy" or as "the way of harmonious spirit."

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The word jiu-jitsu derives from the Japanese Jū meaning ‘gentle’ and Jutsu meaning ‘art.’ Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is a predominantly ground-based martial art, using the principles of leverage, angles, pressure, and timing, as well as knowledge of the human anatomy to achieve a non-violent submission of one’s opponent.

Do you have a favorite weird brand name?

Yahoo!, Kodak & beyond: Odd brand names and their origins

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Some brand names are more straightforward than others. Some are named after their founders or places of origin, some are a description of their products, and others are simply words that sounded right to the people who created them. The following 10 are examples of brand names that, when taken out of their context, sound simply odd. What does Haribo mean? And what about Garmin? These words, now ubiquitous, don’t seem to describe the product they represent but still, are part of our daily lives. Did you know any of their stories?

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An unusual name when it was presented and now, Yahoo! comes from the book "Gulliver’s Travels" where the word was used to refer to unsophisticated youths. Of course, the founders weren’t trying to define its users this way, they just liked how the name sounded, particularly with the added exclamation mark.

While this name is certainly odd, it’s memorable and rolls easily off the tongue, making it a good choice for a tech brand. And, like all the following entries on this list, has become a household word, making it much more acceptable to everyone.

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Kodak is an example of a made-up name that doesn’t appear to have a lot of meaning at first glance. When coming up with the brand name, George Eastman, the founder, concentrated a lot of his attention on the letter "K", which he considered to be a particularly strong-sounding one.

As he said: "I devised the name myself. It became a question of trying out a great number of combinations of letters that made words start and end with 'K.' The word 'Kodak' is the result." Eastman also selected Kodak's distinctive yellow trade dress, which is widely known throughout the world.

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Reebok has a weird name for a sports-focused brand. According to the company, the name comes from the word "Rhebok", which is a kind of African antelope. The founders liked the word, which they found in a South African dictionary, and felt it was a compelling term to use for their own business. After a slight wording change, the now-famous brand was born.

Since the antelope is a creature often connected with speed, it makes a lot of sense for an athletics brand. Since then, the word has been showcased everywhere.

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Xerox is a strange word, and it sounds unusual when spoken out loud. But, there’s some deeper meaning to this title. It means "dry writing" when translated from Greek and refers to the unique process of printing created by the Xerox company.

As it turns out, Joseph C. Wilson, who is credited as the "founder of Xerox", was looking for a term to differentiate its new system, hired a Greek scholar at Ohio State University, and coined the term xerography, which in turn, became the root of the name we now today.

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At first, Twitter was going to be called "Twitch" and then "Status." But neither of those names seemed to fit the bill. After consulting the Thesaurus, the founder, Jack Dorsey, and his team came up with the name "Twitter," meaning a short statement of inconsequential content, never imagining that sitting US presidents would one day use his app as a political platform.

After the company exchanged hands, the name was changed to "X" but most people still refer to it by its old name and even call the postings, "twits".

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Jeff Bezos, the Amazon founder, wanted the name "Cadabra" for his online bookstore, as in Abracadabra. But when his lawyer heard the name and said that it reminded him of cadaver, the term was shelved. After that, Bezos decided to go with Amazon because words that began with the letter "A" were the first to appear in the old internet directories. And, apparently, he liked the word "Amazon".

It might seem hard to believe that the behemoth company that Amazon is today started on such a whimsical note, but it did.

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A portmanteau is a word blending the sounds and combining the meanings of two others, like "motel", which is the combination of mobile and hotel, or brunch, which combines breakfast and lunch. Well, the story of Garmin’s name is somewhere along those lines.

This popular GPS brand’s name is a portmanteau that combines the names of the two company’s founders: Gary Burrell and Dr. Min Kao (Gar-min). It might sound like a bit of a lazy strategy for naming such an important company but, in the end, it worked.

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The second portmanteau on this list corresponds to another odd name: Haribo. One of the world’s best-known sweets brand’s name is a mash-up between the company’s founder and its headquarters. Hans Riegel is the man who founded the company and Bonn is Haribo’s hometown.

Some people even go as far as saying that the name reminds them of an Asian confectionery of some kind, but, as we know now, its origins are very much European because there are not many names as German as Hans, right?

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The third and final portmanteau on this list corresponds to another hugely popular company that manufactures the beloved Oreo cookies. The National Biscuit Company transformed its name into a mash-up of its old name: Na-Bis-Co.

The first use of the name Nabisco was in a cracker brand produced by the National Biscuit Company in 1901 and maybe it is because we have heard and read this name so much and it has become a household word but Nabisco does sound like a cookie or at least, a food company, doesn’t it?

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As it is common knowledge, Europeans make great ice cream. Therefore, a complicated and European-sounding name can be aptly associated with delicious ice cream, right? Reuben and Rose Mattus thought exactly that in the 1960s, as they wanted their business name to convey an aura of tradition and craftsmanship.

Häagen-Dazs is an invented pseudo-Scandinavian phrase coined in a quest for a brand name that sounded Danish. However, the company's pronunciation of the name ignores the letters "ä" and "s", and letters like "ä" or digraphs like "zs" do not exist in the Danish language.