I am often asked this question by students: “What is the difference between Arnis, Kali, Eskrima?”.
I often answer "they are one and the same". All of the 3 terms refer to one and the same Filipino Martial Arts. So if the terms are referring to the same art, why then is it called in three different names?
Arnis, Kali, Eskrima is the common terms used to refer to the Filipino art of armed and unarmed combat fighting. The differences in terms can be attributed to regional dialects among others.
The Philippines, being an Archipelago, is divided into 3 main islands, namely, Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. Each major island comprises of provinces with possibly different dialects. Each dialect can have a term that is used to refer to the Filipino Martial Arts. Luzon, for example, has dialects such as Tagalog, Kapampangan, Ilocano, etc.. while Ilocano dialect can also have different variants such as Itawis, Ibanag, etc..
In Luzon, the art is termed as Arnis. Having been colonized and governed by the Spaniards, the term Arnis was assumed to have come from the Spanish word “arnes” that means armour, depicting the colourful armours that are being used to on entertainment show of the time specifically the Moro-Moro.
The Cebu City, in the Visayas region, was the first capital of the Philippines before it was moved to Manila on 1595. In the Visayas, the general term used for the Filipino Martial Art is “Eskrima” which is the Spanish word for sword fighting.
There are many theories on why the Filipino Martial Art is called as Kali in the southern part of the Philippines that includes the Mindanao region. One theory is that, the southern Filipinos uses a snake like sword that is called as “Kalis” or otherwise known as the Kris, making use of the sword name to refer to the martial art that it is used for.
Aside from the main terms - Arnis, Kali, Eskrima, here are some of the non-exhaustive minor terms that are used in different dialects: kaliradman (Ilonggo), pagkalikali(Ibanag) and kalirongan (Pangasinan), baston (Tagalog).
With the advent of the Filipino Martial Arts reaching the Western countries, Stick Fighting and Knife Fighting, among others, are the newer terminologies that were coined for the art.
Arnis is likewise respected for the skillful and masterful handling of knife and edged weapons spanning from long edged weapons like bolos, parang, and swords to short edged weapons which include knife, daggers and Karambit.