I normally don’t post tone marks for Chinese words, but I will include them here since they are important to the subject of this article.
Měihóu wáng (美猴王), or the “Handsome Monkey King,” is one of Sūn Wùkōng‘s many names and titles. I recently saw an online post where someone proposed their own folk analysis for the character měi (美, “beautiful/handsome”), suggesting that the two prongs on top reference Monkey’s iconic feathered cap. But others quickly pointed out that this was historically not the case. This reminded me of my theory on the origins of the term Měihóu wáng.
(Left) The character měi (美, “beautiful/handsome”) (larger version). Take note of the two prongs on top. Image found here. (Right) Èrláng vs Sūn Wùkōng (larger version). Take note of Monkey’s feathered cap. Image of a production still from the 1986 TV Series.
I have suggested in an update to a past article that the title is a play on Míhóu wáng (獼猴王, “Macaque/Monkey King”), míhóu being a common term for monkeys for centuries. [1] This is because the 13th-century version of Journey to the West (Xīyóu jì, 西遊記, 1592) calls Sūn Wùkōng‘s antecedent Míhóu wáng. [2] Even a 3rd-century Chinese version of an Indian jataka tale where the Buddha is a monkey king calls him Míhóu wáng. But most importantly, the Middle Chinese pronunciation of měi (美) sounds more like “mǐ” (mijX), as do the pronunciations of many ethnic groups and even neighboring countries. This might suggest that the pre-modern usage was adopted by these people and places in the past. Therefore, Míhóu wáng and Měihóu wáng may have sounded similar at some point in history:
Modern Chinese → Middle Chinese
獼猴王 (Míhóu wáng) → Míhóu wáng (mjie-huw hjwang) [3]
美猴王 (Měihóu wáng) → Mǐhóu wáng (mijX huw hjwang) [4]
Ethnic and foreign pronunciations of měi (美)
- Gan (Wiktionary): mi3
- Hakka
- Jin (Wiktionary): mei2
- Northern Min (KCR): mǐ
- Eastern Min (BUC): mī
- Southern Min
- Japanese: 美 (mi); 美 (bi) [Mi/bi kou ou/nou, 美猴王]
- Korean: 미(美) (mi) [Mihu wang, 미후왕]
- Vietnamese: mĩ (美) [Mĩhầu Vương] (Wiktionary)
If true, this would mean that the common link between Sūn Wùkōng‘s title and his ego is a later interpretation.
I must point out, however, that I am NOT a language expert. This is just something that dawned on me one day. I would like feedback from more knowledgeable readers. Please write me via the “contact” button on the menu, or leave a comment below.
The Handsome Monkey King is waited on by his children (larger version). Image from the Japanese children’s book Son Goku (孫悟空,1939).
Notes:
1) Míhóu is one of various transcriptions for a word of non-Chinese origin used in ancient China to mean “monkey”:
The fact that mu occurs in four variants: 母 and 沐 in Chou literature, and mi 米 or 獼 during the Han dynasty and later, proves that this binom is a phonetic rendering of a non-Chinese term (Van Gulik, 1967, p. 35).
2) The full title is the “Bronze-Headed, Iron-Browed King of the Eighty-Four Thousand Monkeys of the Purple Cloud Grotto on the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit” (Huāguǒ shān Zǐyún dòng bāwàn sìqiān tóngtóu tiě’é Míhóu wáng, 花果山紫雲洞八萬四千銅頭鐵額獼猴王) (Wivell, 1994, p. 1182).
3) See Kroll et al. (2015, pp. 162, 302, and 469).
4) See Kroll et al. (2015, pp. 162, 299, and 469).
Source:
Kroll, P. W., Baxter, W., Boltz, W. G., Knechtges, D. R., Lien, Y. E., Richter, A., Richter, M. L., Warner, D. X. (2015). A Student’s Dictionary of Classical and Medieval Chinese. Belgium: Brill.
Van Gulik, R. H. (1967). The Gibbon in China: An Essay in Chinese Animal Lore. Leiden: E.J. Brill.
Wivell, C.S. (1994). The Story of How the Monk Tripitaka of the Great Country of T’ang Brought Back the Sūtras. In V. Mair (Ed.), The Columbia Anthology of Traditional Chinese Literature (pp. 1181-1207). New York: Columbia University Press.
