Gugyeol is a system for rendering texts written in Classical Chinese into understandable Korean. It was chiefly used during the Joseon Dynasty, when readings of the Chinese classics were of paramount social importance. Unlike the idu and hyangchal systems which preceded it, gugyeol used specialized markings, together with a subset of Chinese characters, to represented Korean morphological markers. Also, the idu and hyangchal systems appear to have been used primarily to render the Korean language into hanja; on the other hand, gugyeol sought to render Chinese texts into Korean with a minimum of distortion. Thus, in gugyeol, the original classical text was not modified, and the additional markers were simply inserted between phrases. Hangul also refers to a word processing application widely used in Korea. ... It has been suggested that Sino-Korean be merged into this article or section. ... The Revised Romanization of Korean (Korean: 국어의 로마자 표기법; 國語의 로마字 表記法) is the official Korean language romanization system in South Korea. ... McCune-Reischauer romanization is one of the two most widely used Korean language romanization systems, along with the Revised Romanization of Korean, which replaced (a modified) McCune-Reischauer as the official romanization system in South Korea in 2000. ... Classical Chinese or Literary Chinese is a traditional style of written Chinese based on the grammar and vocabulary of very old forms of Chinese , making it very different from any modern spoken form of Chinese. ... The Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910) (also Choson), sometimes known as the Yi Dynasty, was a dynasty founded by General Yi Seonggye in what is modern day Korea, and lasted for five centuries as one of the worlds longest running monarchies. ... Idu munja is an archaic writing system which represents the Korean language using hanja. ... Hyangchal (hangul: 향찰; hanja: 鄕札; revised: hyangchal; McCune-Reischauer: hyangchal) is an archaic writing system used in Korea. ... Morphology is the following: In linguistics, morphology is the study of the structure of word forms. ... It has been suggested that Sino-Korean be merged into this article or section. ...

The name gugyeol can be rendered as "phrase parting," and may refer to the separation of one Chinese phrase to another. This name is itself believed to originate from the use of Chinese characters to represent the Middle Korean phrase ipgyeot (입겿), with a similar meaning. The gugyeol system is also sometimes referred to as to (吐) or hyeonto (懸吐), since to is also used to refer to the morphological affixes themselves; or as seogui (석의,釋義) which can be rendered as "interpretation of the classics."

Gugyeol first came into use in the early Goryeo dynasty. In this period, certain Chinese characters were used (along with specialized symbols) to represent Korean sounds through their meaning. For example, the syllable '잇' (is) was represented with the Chinese character 有, since that character has the Korean meaning '있다.' This technique came to be replaced in the late Goryeo period with using Chinese characters accoring to their sound. This later version of the gugyeol system was formalized by Jeong Mong-ju and Gwon Geun around 1400 in the early Joseon Dynasty, at the behest of King Taejong. At this time a number of Confucian classics, including the Classic of Poetry, were rendered into gugyeol. The state of Goryeo ruled Korea from the fall of Silla in 935 until the founding of Joseon in 1392. ... Chong Mong-Chu (pen name: Po-Eun; 1337-1392) was born at the time when the Goryeo dynasty ruled the Korean peninsula. ... The Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910) (also Choson), sometimes known as the Yi Dynasty, was a dynasty founded by General Yi Seonggye in what is modern day Korea, and lasted for five centuries as one of the worlds longest running monarchies. ... Taejong was the third king of the Joseon Dynasty in Korea and the father of King Sejong the Great. ... China has a wealth of classical literature, both poetry and prose, dating from the Eastern Zhou Dynasty (1122 BC - 256 BC) and including the Chinese classics texts, or Chinese canonical texts. ... Shī Jīng (詩經), translated variously as the Classic of Poetry, the Book of Songs or the Book of Odes, is the first major collection of Chinese poems. ...

The term gugyeol is often extended beyond this early system to similar uses of hangul following the introduction of the Hunmin jeongeum in the 15th century. In this respect, gugyeol remains in occasional use in contemporary South Korea, where such techniques are still sometimes used to render the Confucian classics into readable form. Hangul also refers to a word processing application widely used in Korea. ... Promulgated in September or October 1446, Hunmin Jeongeum (lit. ...

References

• Kim, Mu-rim (김무림) (2004). 국어의 역사 (Gugeo-ui yeoksa, History of the Korean language). Seoul: Hankook Munhwasa. ISBN 89-5726-185-0.
• Kwon, Jae-seon (권재선) (1989). 간추린 국어학 발전사 (Ganchurin gugeohak baljeonsa, An abridged history of Korean language studies). Seoul: Ugoltap.

See also

• Hanja
• Idu
• Hyangchal
• Hangul

It has been suggested that Sino-Korean be merged into this article or section. ... Idu munja is an archaic writing system which represents the Korean language using hanja. ... Hyangchal (hangul: 향찰; hanja: 鄕札; revised: hyangchal; McCune-Reischauer: hyangchal) is an archaic writing system used in Korea. ... Hangul also refers to a word processing application widely used in Korea. ...

External links

• Dusan World Encyclopedia entry