海等

Old Korean

Etymology

See Korean 바다 (bada, “sea, ocean”) for more.

Pronunciation

In Old Korean orthography, native terms with clear Chinese equivalents are usually written with an initial Chinese character (logogram) glossing the meaning of the word, followed by one or more Chinese characters (phonograms) that transcribe the final syllable or coda consonant of the term. In the case of 海等, the first character shows that this is the native Old Korean word for “sea; ocean”, and the subsequent character(s) show(s) that the final syllable of this word is *-tol/*-tor. Because the semantics and the final phoneme(s) match, the word is conventionally reconstructed as 바ᄃᆞᆯ, the ancestor of Middle Korean 바ᄅᆞᆯ (Yale: palol). Note that the reconstruction was not necessarily the actual pronunciation. Rather, it should simply be considered as a method of representing an Old Korean form phonetically by using its Middle Korean reflex.

According to scholarly convention, the elements of the reconstruction which are not directly represented by phonograms are given in capital letters. This allows readers to identify what part of the reconstruction is attested and what part is applied retroactively from the Middle Korean reflex. The Sino-Korean transcription of an Old Korean title in the kingdom of Silla varies orthographically between 波珍飡 and 海飡, where the first elements 波珍 and 海 (hǎi) are apparently equivalent. 波珍, Old Chinese reading */pˁaj trə[n]/, is thought to be a purely phonogramic writing of this same word. The Nihon Shoki transcribes the relevant element of the same title as ハトリ patori, further supporting the reading based on internal evidence.

Noun

海等 (*PAtol, *PAtor)

1. sea, ocean
   • c. 965, (deprecated template usage) 均如 (Gyunyeo), “(deprecated template usage) 普皆廻向歌 (Bogaehoehyang-ga)”, in (deprecated template usage) 均如傳 (Gyunyeo-jeon) [Works of Gyunyeo]:

     佛體叱海等成留焉日尸恨

     PWUTHYE-s PAtol Il-wo-n NAlh-on

     as for the day when the ocean of the Buddha was accomplished

Descendants

• Middle Korean: 바ᄅᆞᆯ (palol, “sea”)
• Jeju: 바를 (bareul, “sea”)

References

• 김성주 (2010) “균여향가 <普皆廻向歌>의 한 해석 [A Reading of the 'Bogaehoehyang-ga, a hyangga poem of Gyunyeo]”, in Gugyeol Yeon'gu, volume 27, pages 173-215