This study examines the Korean vocabulary and notation in the Japanese newspaper Chosen J iho, which was published for 46 years in modern Busan. The Korean vocabulary in the newspaper includes words such as 'gisaeng (Korean trained artist women)', 'ya...
This study examines the Korean vocabulary and notation in the Japanese newspaper Chosen J iho, which was published for 46 years in modern Busan. The Korean vocabulary in the newspaper includes words such as 'gisaeng (Korean trained artist women)', 'yangban (nobleman)', 'ondol (Korean floor heating system)', ssireum (Korean wrestling), 'gamulchi (snakehead mullet)', 'neukttae (wolf)', 'jige·jigekkun (Korean-A-frame·carrier)', 'kimchi', 'sabal (bowl)', 'chonggak (unmarried man)', and 'yeobo (honey)'. These words are related to traditional Korean culture, names of creatures and objects that do not exist in Japan or have different meanings, terms for unmarried men of age, and address forms used to insult Koreans. Most of these words are transliterated into Japanese kana, but due to the nature of the newspaper, some are written in kanji and ateji (当て字).
Among these examples, we examined the notations of “gamulchi (snakehead mullet),” “'neukttae (wolf),” and “'jige·jigekkun (Korean-A-frame),” and found that “gamulchi” is used in combination with the kana of カムルチー・カモチ. The kanji for “neukttae” uses the kanji of “豺,” “狼,” and “豺狼” along with the kanji of “ヌクテ・ぬくて.” The kanji of “'jige·jigekkun” is “チゲ” and “擔軍,” indicating that “jigekkun (Korean-A-frame carrier)” is also referred to as “jige”. There are instances where the kanji “kkun” for Korean-A-frame carrier is written with the kana “クン” and the kanji “君” and “公”. Also, in some articles, the Korean-A-frame carriers of public figures are written as チゲ, while itinerant Korean-A-frame carriers are written as 擔軍.
In conclusion, we see that Korean vocabulary is not uniformly written, even for the same word, using kana, kanji, and ateji (当て字). This situation likely reflects the inconsistency in the Japanese writing system at the time, making it difficult to unify the Korean vocabulary.