岩乎

Old Korean

Noun

岩乎 (*PAhwo, *PAKwo)

1. (hapax) rock
2. (possibly, proper noun evidence only) mountain crossing

Reconstruction notes

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 岩乎, the first character shows that this is the native Old Korean word for “rock”, and the subsequent character(s) show(s) that the final syllable of this word is *-hwo, *-wo. Because the semantics and the final phoneme(s) match, the word is conventionally reconstructed as *PAhwo, *PAKwo, the ancestor of Middle Korean 바회〮 (Yale: pàhwóy). 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. Dialectal data is clear that /h/ in Middle Korean 바회〮 (pàhwóy) stems from earlier */k/, on which see Appendix:Koreanic reconstructions#/h/ lenition. Reconstructions of the second syllable of 岩乎 differ on whether the dialect being transcribed is considered to have already undergone this lenition of */k/ to */h/. Both interpretations are possible because 乎 was sometimes used to transcribe the final syllable */-ho/ and sometimes only the final vowel */-o/.

What appears to be this word is also found as an element in the placename glosses in the Samguk sagi under the purely phonogramic form 波兮/波衣, perhaps representing a root /paH-/.

Descendants

• Middle Korean: 바회〮 (pahwóy)
  • (Modern Standard Korean) Korean: 바위 (bawi)
• Gyeongsang Korean: 바구 (bagu), 방구 (banggu)
• Hamgyong Korean: 팡구 (panggu), 방구 (banggu)

References

• 신승용 [sinseung'yong] (2003) “/k/ > /h/ 變化에 對한 考察 [Study on the /k/ > /h/ shift]”, in Gugeohak, volume 41, pages 93—122
• 김정태 [gimjeongtae] (2009) “'바위(岩)'의 통시적 변화와 방언 분포상의 특징 [bawi ui tongsijeok byeonhwawa bang'eon bunposang'ui teukjing, The diachronic change of pawuy and the characteristics of its dialectal distribution]”, in Han'gugeo eomunhak, volume 70, pages 25—48