成留

Old Korean

Alternative forms

• 逸烏 (uncertain, possible phonographic form)

Etymology

Cognate to Old Korean 事 (*IL), Middle Korean 일〯 (ǐl, “work; event”)

Verb

成留 (*Il-)

1. to be accomplished, to be attained
   • c. 965, 均如 (Gyunyeo), “普皆廻向歌 (Bogaehoehyang-ga)”, in 均如傳 (Gyunyeo-jeon):

     佛體叱海等成留焉日尸

     *PWUthye-s PAtol Il-wo-n NAlh

     the day when the ocean of the Buddha was attained

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 成留, the first character shows that this is the native Old Korean word for “to accomplish”, and the subsequent character(s) show(s) that the final syllable of this word is *-lwo. Because the semantics and the final phoneme(s) match, the word is conventionally reconstructed as *Il-wo-, the ancestor of Middle Korean 일〯다〮 (Yale: ǐl-tá). 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.

Descendants

• Middle Korean: 일〯다〮 (ǐl-tá)
  • ⇒ Korean: 이루다 (iruda)

References

• 김성주 (2010) “균여향가 <普(보)皆(개)廻(회)向(향)歌(가)>의 한 해석”, in Gugyeol Yeon'gu, volume 27, pages 173-215
• 박지용 外 (Park Ji-yong et al.) (2012) 향가 해독 자료집, Seoul National University, page 331