Tuesday, February 07, 2012

How would you translate 'Tua Pek Kong temple'?

I had a good laugh when I read the translation by Bing in Facebook. A friend posted some pictures taken at the temple in Pasir Panjang, near Sitiawan. I could not recognize it, partly because I was distracted by the red herring 'near Batu Gajah' mentioned in FB (don't really know how it got that description, just like the translation I am going to disclose). I was trying to relate to those temples I know in BG which could have been renovated. Anyway, next to the Chinese characters in FB was a link for translation and it was, 'brother-in-law temple'!

I tried and tried to figure out but could not get how it was translated as such. But then again, 'Tua pek' in Hokien means 'father's older brother'. Sometimes, a wife might follow her children in addressing such a brother-in-law as 'tua pek' (which is relevant if brother-in-law had any relevance to this!). Therefore, 'tua pek kong' could have originated from someone (now a demi-god) who had been addressed as such before. This is highly unlikely as the term suggests relationship within a family. I still think it is more likely that it could be 'pek' as in a respectful term for an elderly man, 'tua' as in big could have been added to give it added respect, and 'kong' as in Chinese for 'god'.
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