ᅘᅧ다

Middle Korean

Alternative forms

혀다 (hyeta)

Etymology

Cognate to Jeju ᄊᆞ다 (ssawda), Jeju 싸다 (ssada, “to light, to drain”). Possibly from earlier *ᅘᆢ다 (*hhyota).

The base meaning seems to be 'to drag'. The sense 'to light (a fire)' probably comes from the fact that fires were typically started with a piece of steel (부시 (busi)) struck or dragged on a flintstone (부싯돌 (busitdol)), before matchsticks were introduced.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /h͈jə́.tá/

Verb

ᅘᅧ다〮 (hhyètá) (infinitive ᅘᅧ〮아〮, sequential ᅘᅧ니〮)

to drag, to pull
to light (a fire)
to extract silk from a silkworm cocoon
to play a stringed instrument with a bow
to saw

Descendants

Early Modern Korean: 혀다 (hyeta), ᄻᅧ다 (shyeta)
Korean: 켜다 (kyeoda), 써다 (sseoda)