What does “Wing Chun” mean and when did it appear?
「詠春」作何解？又何時出現？
Snake Crane Wing Chun Mun discipline rules:
– Conducting righteousness and loyalty is worth to honour
– Keeping one’s word is more aspired than spring
蛇鶴詠春門訓
永行忠義堪歌詠
言出九鼎志更春
According to the oral history of Snake Crane Wing Chun, this couplet plaques were erected in the South Shaolin Wing Chun Hall, and Snake Crane Wing Chun was created in this hall. By means of short bridge narrow stance to deal with the long bride big stance traitor, Ma Ling Yee, who bribed by Qing Government and burning the Southern Shaolin Temple. The term “Wing Chun” is a combination of the last characters of this couplet. Since most Wing Chun techniques have the shapes of snakes and cranes, it is called Snake Crane Wing Chun.
從蛇鶴詠春門囗傳歷史，這對對聯豎立於南少林永春殿，而蛇鶴詠春是在這殿創的，以短橋搾馬對付長橋大馬的火燒南少林投清叛徒馬寧兒，「詠春」二字是這對聯的尾字合成，招式因有蛇及鶴的形態，故稱蛇鶴詠春。
Zangwei couplet (藏尾聯)
Zangwei couplet is a kind of poetry, which refers to those who assign certain content to be expressed to the last word of each poem in turn, and each sentence must be coherent from context to context. The above Snake Crane Wing Chun Mun discipline rules is a pair of Zangwei couplet.
藏尾聯
藏尾聯是詩詞的一種，指那些將某些需要表達的內容依次賦於每句詩的最後一字，而每句又要上文下理連貫。而蛇鶴詠春門訓是一對「藏尾聯」。
Honoring Spring flower(Wing Chun flower)
In addition to the natural scenery of mountains and rivers, most ancient literati also had a special liking for flower, especially spring flowers and often honor them in poem, so they were called “Wing Chun flowers(praising spring flower) “.
詠春花
古時文人除山川景色自然外，對花亦情有獨鍾，特別是春天的花，常以詩詞去歌頌，稱之為「詠春花」。
According to textual research, the fire of the South Shaolin, that is, the burning of the Qionghua Guild Hall（矎花會館）and the Red Boat in 1855, related to the Red Boat Tai Ping Heavenly Kingdom Uprising of Lee Man Mau, a martial artist of the Red Boat, and the establishment of the “Dacheng Kingdom” in Guangxi in 1855. And the last statement of the Snake Crane Wing Chun Lim Tau Song, “Snake Crane Fist is able to overcome the Southern Shaolin traitor”, refers to splitting a set of Snake Crane Fist into three sets of form with the concept of short bridge narrow stance to deal with long bridge big stance. It is also, after the fire of Qionghua Guild Hall（矎花會館）, to create Snake Crane Wing Chun to deal with traitors in the Qing Dynasty. Therefore, the term “Wing Chun” should appear after 1855.
在考證研究下，火燒南少林亦即於1855火燒矎花會館及紅船，與紅船武生李文荗於1854年紅船太平天國起義及1855於廣西建「大成國」有關。而蛇鶴詠春小念頭歌訣的尾句，「蛇鶴能制逆宗童」，是指由一套蛇鶴拳以埋身概念去分拆成三套拳對付長橋大馬，是在火燒瓊花會館後創的拳術來對付投清叛徒，故「詠春」二字是在1855年後才出現。
Wing Chun meaning
Wing詠 means to praise, while Chun春 refers to Spring flower, （矎花, Viburnum macrocephalum f. keteleeri) which refers to Qionghua Guild Hall（矎花會館）. Therefore, Wing Chun means to honor the Qionghua Guild Hall after the fire. This Zangwei couplet is indeed an expression of “Wing Chun”.
「詠春」意思
「詠」是歌頌、贊揚之意，而「春」指春花，矎花是春花的一類，意指矎花會館，故詠春意思是歌頌火燒後的瓊花會館，這對聯確是表達詠春。
參考:
探討一段已被遺忘的詠春拳歷史 (2014)
慎思明辨 | am730
Reference:
Investigation on some forgotten Wing Chun Kuen History (2014)
念頭歌
Lim Tau Song
1) 白鶴戲水蛇歸洞
White crane plays around with water, and the snake returns the hole.
2) 飛麟九轉表掌通
Flying snake rotates the head in nine ways to represent the palm techniques
3) 蛇鶴爭揮堵勁融
Snake and crane show off their best techniques and strength.
4) 鶴足三提翼四功
Crane feet step three times and the crane’s wing flips in four ways.
5) 白鶴摺翼登天際
White crane folds the wings and flies to the sky.
6) 蛇鶴能制逆宗童
Snake Crane Fist is able to overcome the Southern Shaolin traitor.