By Kyung Moon Hwang
A country's name naturally reflects its history. For example, there are about a half-dozen official monikers for Germany in different regions and languages, a sign of Germany's long and fractured existence before it became a unified state in the 19th century.
Korea's story is somewhat different. With the exception of the Mongolian word, "Solongos," which also carries a fascinating history, there are three basic names for Korea around the world: Goryeo (Korea), Joseon, and Hanguk. Over its long history many different expressions have been used, both by neighbors and among Koreans, but these three have become standardized in recent times.
Even more interesting is that each of these three terms was revived from an earlier historical period and, in the modern era, underwent further modification in line with political shifts. The recycling of words for Korea thus shows both the civilization's longevity and its people's awareness of their shared past.
The oldest of the three names is probably "Joseon," which appeared in ancient Chinese records in reference to a political entity on the northern part of the peninsula and extending into Manchuria. This connection later became the basis for national myths about Korea's primordial origins, myths still promoted in both Koreas today.
Joseon was replaced by the kingdom of Goguryeo, a more verifiable state that ruled over the same territory beginning about 2,000 years ago. Contemporary Chinese sources, using colorful descriptions of customs and rituals, described Goguryeo as one of several groups on the peninsula.
Among them were the three "Hans" (Jinhan, Mahan, Byeonhan), tribal federations on the peninsula's southern half. The term "Han" appears to have come from a native word for "great" or "big," perhaps also "king," but was assigned an ideolograph (韓) that referred also to an ancient Chinese kingdom. This added to the confusion, but thereafter the Three Hans, or "Samhan," became a conventional reference for the peninsula.
This was the case even after the ancient Three Kingdoms era (again, confusingly, a term that also referred to a period in Chinese history) came to an end in the seventh century with the conquest of Goguryeo and Baekje by Silla. The first recycling of earlier names, however, appeared when this Unified Silla kingdom began to fragment through internal rebellions in the ninth century, as leaders in the northern and southwestern parts of Silla resurrected the names, respectively, of Goruryeo and Baekje.
When the leader of this second version of Goguryeo succeeded in militarily reunifying the peninsula in the early 10th century, he stuck with the name, though in shortened form, "Goryeo," as the official title for the country. This was the word that spread around the world, which explains why outside of East Asia today, variations of "Korea" stand as the uniform term.
During the Goryeo era, however, and even within the country, many other names came into routine use, including "Samhan," "Dongguk" and "Dongbang" (Eastern Country), "Haedong" (East of the Sea), and "Daedong" (Great East). Most of these terms, tellingly, indicated a strong consciousness of Korea's relationship to China and possibly came from China, but in any case they functioned as common shorthands among the people.
Such informal epithets survived even as official, diplomatic designations changed in line with political developments. This happened again in the late 14th century, when new rulers brought down the Goryeo Dynasty and once more revived an ancient name, this time Joseon, in order to legitimize the new kingdom's claims over the realm.
Such were the motivations when, 500 years later, the formal name again changed, though not in order to signal the death of the five-century-old Joseon Dynasty, but rather to give it a new international standing. And in keeping with earlier recycling patterns, the term "Daehan Jeguk," or Great Korean Empire (or, given the original meaning of "han," the "Great Great Empire") was established in 1897, although it kept the same monarch, now called an "emperor."
The shortened form of Daehan Jeguk, "Hanguk," thus gained greater use and operated alongside "Joseon," the name ("Chosen") that the Japanese revived upon colonizing Korea in 1910. The new (old) competing usage did not disappear, however, and Korea's first government-in-exile that gathered in Shanghai in 1919 recycled the "Daehan" and "Hanguk" designations for its formal name, Daehan Minguk (Republic of Korea).
Following liberation from Japanese rule, interestingly, while South Korea restored this rendering for its formal name, the North Koreans kept the name the Japanese had "chosen." North Koreans still refer to their country, and to Korea as a whole, as Joseon, while South Koreans use Hanguk. Their respective names for each other are "South Joseon" and "North Hanguk," which reflects the convoluted history of national division, the ramifications of which naturally extend to naming, including in neighboring lands. In China, they use the preferred terms of the two countries, but in reflecting its longstanding communist alliance with North Korea, the word for Korea as a whole is the "Joseon Peninsula." In Taiwan, they use the South Korean term for North Korea, though interestingly not for South Korea ("South Han"). And perhaps fittingly, the phrasing is oddest in Japan, where it's "North Joseon" (Kita Chosen) and "Hanguk" (Kankoku), respectively.
All of this recycling and mixing of names may amount to a confusing mess, but even so, it's an intriguing sign and outcome of Korea's compelling historical turns.
Kyung Moon Hwang (khwang3@gmail.com) is a professor at the Department of History, University of Southern California. He is the author of "A History of Korea _ An Episodic Narrative" (second edition, Palgrave Macmillan, 2016).
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Korea's story is somewhat different. With the exception of the Mongolian word, "Solongos," which also carries a fascinating history, there are three basic names for Korea around the world: Goryeo (Korea), Joseon, and Hanguk. Over its long history many different expressions have been used, both by neighbors and among Koreans, but these three have become standardized in recent times.
Even more interesting is that each of these three terms was revived from an earlier historical period and, in the modern era, underwent further modification in line with political shifts. The recycling of words for Korea thus shows both the civilization's longevity and its people's awareness of their shared past.
The oldest of the three names is probably "Joseon," which appeared in ancient Chinese records in reference to a political entity on the northern part of the peninsula and extending into Manchuria. This connection later became the basis for national myths about Korea's primordial origins, myths still promoted in both Koreas today.
Joseon was replaced by the kingdom of Goguryeo, a more verifiable state that ruled over the same territory beginning about 2,000 years ago. Contemporary Chinese sources, using colorful descriptions of customs and rituals, described Goguryeo as one of several groups on the peninsula.
Among them were the three "Hans" (Jinhan, Mahan, Byeonhan), tribal federations on the peninsula's southern half. The term "Han" appears to have come from a native word for "great" or "big," perhaps also "king," but was assigned an ideolograph (韓) that referred also to an ancient Chinese kingdom. This added to the confusion, but thereafter the Three Hans, or "Samhan," became a conventional reference for the peninsula.
This was the case even after the ancient Three Kingdoms era (again, confusingly, a term that also referred to a period in Chinese history) came to an end in the seventh century with the conquest of Goguryeo and Baekje by Silla. The first recycling of earlier names, however, appeared when this Unified Silla kingdom began to fragment through internal rebellions in the ninth century, as leaders in the northern and southwestern parts of Silla resurrected the names, respectively, of Goruryeo and Baekje.
When the leader of this second version of Goguryeo succeeded in militarily reunifying the peninsula in the early 10th century, he stuck with the name, though in shortened form, "Goryeo," as the official title for the country. This was the word that spread around the world, which explains why outside of East Asia today, variations of "Korea" stand as the uniform term.
During the Goryeo era, however, and even within the country, many other names came into routine use, including "Samhan," "Dongguk" and "Dongbang" (Eastern Country), "Haedong" (East of the Sea), and "Daedong" (Great East). Most of these terms, tellingly, indicated a strong consciousness of Korea's relationship to China and possibly came from China, but in any case they functioned as common shorthands among the people.
Such informal epithets survived even as official, diplomatic designations changed in line with political developments. This happened again in the late 14th century, when new rulers brought down the Goryeo Dynasty and once more revived an ancient name, this time Joseon, in order to legitimize the new kingdom's claims over the realm.
Such were the motivations when, 500 years later, the formal name again changed, though not in order to signal the death of the five-century-old Joseon Dynasty, but rather to give it a new international standing. And in keeping with earlier recycling patterns, the term "Daehan Jeguk," or Great Korean Empire (or, given the original meaning of "han," the "Great Great Empire") was established in 1897, although it kept the same monarch, now called an "emperor."
The shortened form of Daehan Jeguk, "Hanguk," thus gained greater use and operated alongside "Joseon," the name ("Chosen") that the Japanese revived upon colonizing Korea in 1910. The new (old) competing usage did not disappear, however, and Korea's first government-in-exile that gathered in Shanghai in 1919 recycled the "Daehan" and "Hanguk" designations for its formal name, Daehan Minguk (Republic of Korea).
Following liberation from Japanese rule, interestingly, while South Korea restored this rendering for its formal name, the North Koreans kept the name the Japanese had "chosen." North Koreans still refer to their country, and to Korea as a whole, as Joseon, while South Koreans use Hanguk. Their respective names for each other are "South Joseon" and "North Hanguk," which reflects the convoluted history of national division, the ramifications of which naturally extend to naming, including in neighboring lands. In China, they use the preferred terms of the two countries, but in reflecting its longstanding communist alliance with North Korea, the word for Korea as a whole is the "Joseon Peninsula." In Taiwan, they use the South Korean term for North Korea, though interestingly not for South Korea ("South Han"). And perhaps fittingly, the phrasing is oddest in Japan, where it's "North Joseon" (Kita Chosen) and "Hanguk" (Kankoku), respectively.
All of this recycling and mixing of names may amount to a confusing mess, but even so, it's an intriguing sign and outcome of Korea's compelling historical turns.
Kyung Moon Hwang (khwang3@gmail.com) is a professor at the Department of History, University of Southern California. He is the author of "A History of Korea _ An Episodic Narrative" (second edition, Palgrave Macmillan, 2016).
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