阿冬音

Old Korean

Noun

阿冬音 (*atolum or *atom)

(hapax) The meaning of this term is uncertain. The word appears only once, in the third line of the seventh-century poem Mojukjirang-ga. In the context of the poem, it seems to be something that was once associated with the appearance of the nobleman Jukjirang, and which the poet opposes with the aging and physical decay—or perhaps death—of Jukjirang today. But because the rest of the third line is even more difficult to interpret, the meaning of the word remains uncertain. Hypotheses include:
1. The most common and influential interpretation is "beauty", both because of the context and because of the phonologically suggestive existence of Middle Korean 아ᄅᆞᆷ〮답다〮 (àlóm-tàptá, “to be beautiful”).
2. Kim Wan-jin points out that the first character should normally be a logogram based on the principle of hunju eumjong, and suggests that this word meant "mound" (the Chinese meaning of 阿), perhaps as a physical feature on the face of Jukjirang, or as an allusion to a physical location. Virtually all other interpreters have identified the first character as phonogramic, pointing out other Korean evidence of phonogramic use of initial 阿. Nonetheless, if the word indeed meant only "beauty" with easy Chinese semantic equivalents such as 美 (měi) or 麗 / 丽, it remains an open question as to why hunju eumjong was violated; there may have been nuances which are no longer retrievable today.
3. A relatively small minority of interpreters have identified the word as an adverb, not a noun, but there is no agreement on what the adverb might mean either.
- c. 690, 得烏 (Deugo), “慕竹旨郞歌 (Mojukjirang-ga)”, in 三國遺事 (Samguk Yusa) [Memorabilia of the Three Kingdoms]:
  阿冬音乃叱好支賜烏隱 / 皃史年數就音墮支行齊
  *atolum nashwotisiwon / CUs-i HOY-S-SWU CWOCHum TIti NYEcye
  His visage, which [unclear verb, perhaps "made manifest"?] its atolum / is following the count of years, all crumbling away
  (The transliteration is from Nam 2019 but is heavily hypothetical.)

Reconstruction notes

冬 and 音 are well-established Old Korean phonograms for *-tol and *-m respectively, while 阿 is a phonogram common throughout East Asia to represent the initial vowel *a. Hence, the pronunciation directly loyal to the actual orthography is *atolum.

However, many linguists prefer to reconstruct *atom instead, especially in order to allow a regular Middle Korean reflex via intervocalic lenition in 아ᄅᆞᆷ〮답다〮 (àlóm-tàptá, “to be beautiful”) where 답다〮 (tàptá) is an adjective-deriving suffix attached to nouns, whereas *atolum > alom requires positing an irregular change. Though controversial, there may be toponyms in the twelfth-century placename glosses in the Samguk sagi where the sequence 冬音 is to be read as *-tom.

Descendants

⇒? Middle Korean: 아ᄅᆞᆷ〮답다〮 (àlóm-tàptá, “to be beautiful”)
- Korean: 아름답다 (areumdapda, “to be beautiful”)

References

김유범 (Kim Yu-beom) (1998) “募竹旨郞歌 '阿冬音'의 해독 재고 [A reflection on the interpretations of atolum in Mojukjirang-ga]”, in Han'gugeohak, volume 7, pages 99—115
이병기 (Yi Byeong-gi) (2008) “募竹旨郞歌의 해독에 대하여 [On the interpretations of Mojukjirang-ga]”, in Gugyeol yeon-gu, volume 21, pages 309—344
박지용 外 (Park Ji-yong et al.) (2012) 향가 해독 자료집 [hyangga haedok jaryojip, A Sourcebook of Hyangga Interpretations], Seoul National University, page 291
Nam Pung-hyeon (2019). "Mojukjirangga-ui saeroun haedok" 慕竹旨郞歌의 새로운 해독 ["A new reading of the Mojukjirangga"]. Gugyeol Hakhoe Haksul Daehoe (conference). Yongin, South Korea. pp. 1–8.