Investigations into the history of karate

From 1846 until 1854, Bernard Jean Bettelheim (1811–1870), a Hungarian born Christian missionary lived with his family in the Gokoku-ji 護国寺 temple in Okinawa. Bettelheim despite of all the problems he caused the Ryūkyūan officials, he was an attentive observer of many things around. In the course of his year-long stay, he worked on a English-Loochooan dictionary completing it with over 1,300 pages in the end of 1851. The handwritten manuscript is a real treasure. As far as we know, there is no direct reference to the civil fighting arts of Ryūkyū in it. And, we do not know if he ever has witnessed any forms or techniques. However, he lists and translates the English verb “to box“ into the Ryūkyūan language and makes a reference to the expression “to box with the fist and kick with the feet“. And, he gives us his translation for the expression “to fight with fists“, which will undoubtedly make the linguists among the karate researchers very happy. Related to the world of Ryūkyū Kobudō, in his Chinese derivatives section Bettelheim has translated the word “Timbe“ as “buckler of rattan“.