겨울

Korean

Etymology

First attested in the Worin cheon'gangjigok (月印千江之曲 / 월인천강지곡), 1449, as Middle Korean 겨ᅀᅳᆶ〮 (Yale: kyèzúlh). From Old Korean 冬乙 (*KYESUlh).

Compare dialect forms 겨욹 (gyeouk), 저슭 (jeoseuk), 저싥 (jeosik), 줅 (juk), 겨을 (gyeo'eul), 절 (jeol), 줄기 (julgi), 절기 (jeolgi), 저슬 (jeoseul), 저실 (jeosil), etc.).[1]

It is considered in general to be a compound from 겨시‐ (Yale: kyesi-, “to stay”, honorific) + ㄹ (Yale: -l, irrealis adnominal suffix) + ㅎ (Yale: -h, suffix to make a noun) in the sense of "cold season to stay inside". [2]

James Marshall Unger (2001) asserts it is probably cognate to Japanese 如月 (Kisaragi, “the second month of the lunar calendar”).[3] However, this theory is unreasonable for the following reasons:

  • The 2nd month of the East Asian lunar calendar includes the vernal equinox, or the middle of spring, never considered as winter.
  • Vowel ㅕ (Yale: ye) of Koreanic is consistently transcribed as <e> in Japanese, until its pronunciation changed to [jʌ̹] in Early Modern Korean (cf. 寺(てら) (tera, “temple”, borrowed from Baekje, related to Middle Korean 뎔〮 (Yale: tyél; modern Korean 절 (jeol))), 嶋(セマ) (sema, transliteration of the Koreanic word for "island", ancestor of 셤〯 (Yale: syěm; modern Korean 섬 (seom))), 倍留(ぺる) (peru, transliteration of 별 (byeol, “star”) in the Wakan Sansai Zue, 1712)).

Pronunciation
Romanizations
Revised Romanization?gyeoul
Revised Romanization (translit.)?gyeoul
McCune–Reischauer?kyŏul
Yale Romanization?kyewul
  • South Gyeongsang (Busan) pitch accent: 겨울의 / 겨울에 / 겨울까지

    Syllables in red take high pitch. This word always takes high pitch only on the first syllable, and lowers the pitch of subsequent suffixes.

Noun

겨울 • (gyeoul)

  1. winter
    Synonym: (Jeonnam) 시한 (sihan)

Coordinate terms
Seasons in Korean · 사철 (四철, sacheol), 사계 (四季, sagye, “four seasons”) (layout · text) · category
봄 (bom, “spring”) 여름 (yeoreum, “summer”) 가을 (ga'eul, “fall; autumn”) 겨울 (gyeoul, “winter”)

Derived terms

See also

References
  1. Rei Fukui (2017-03-28) 小倉進平『朝鮮語方言の研究』所載資料による言語地図とその解釈―第１集‎, 東京大学人文社会系研究科 韓国朝鮮文化研究室
  2. 조혁연 (2003-10-31), “‘올케’ 의 어원”, in 중부매일‎
  3. Unger, J. Marshall (2001), “Layers of Words and Volcanic Ash in Japan and Korea”, in The Journal of Japanese Studies‎, volume 27, page 104
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