므스

Middle Korean

Etymology

This is one of four related Middle Korean interrogatives all beginning with /mɨsɨ-/: 므스 (musu), 므슥 (musuk), 므슴 (musum), and 므슷 (musus). The precise etymological relationship between the four remains unclear.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɨsɨ/

Pronoun

므스〮 (mùsú)

1. (interrogative) what
   • 1496, 六祖法寶壇經諺解 / 육조법보단경언해, page 56b:

     師(ᄉᆞ)ㅣ ᄯᅩ 니ᄅᆞ샤ᄃᆡ 네 일후믄 므스고

     SO-i stwo nilosyatoy ne-y ilhwum-un musu-kwo

     The master said also, "What is your name?"

Usage notes

• 므스 (musu) is used before the interrogative particle 고 (-kwo).
• 므슴 (musum) is used before other consonant-initial particles, and before the verb ᄒᆞ다〮 (Yale: hò-tá) "to do".
• 므슥 (musuk) is used before vowel-initial particles.
• In the Early Modern period, the pronouns are ultimately supplanted by the new pronoun 므엇 (mwues), whence modern 무엇 (mueot), 뭐 (mwo).

Determiner

므스〮 (mùsú)

1. (interrogative) what

   Synonym: 어느 (enu)

   • 1447, 釋譜詳節 / 석보상절, page 6:24a:

     내〮 므스〮 거시〮 不(불)足(죡)ᄒᆞ료〮

     ná-y mùsú kès-í PWULCYOK-hòlywó

     What thing would I be lacking?

   • 1496, 六祖法寶壇經諺解 / 육조법보단경언해, page 95a:

     므스 일 ᄒᆞ다가 온다

     musu il hotaka wonta

     What work are you coming back from?

Usage notes

• 므스 (musu) is used only for the semantically weak nouns 것 (kes, “thing”) and 일 (il, “work, event”).
• 므슴 (musum) is used generally, but typically in rhetorical questions.
• 므슷 (musus) is used primarily for 일 (il, “event”) but is rarely attested elsewhere.
• 므슷 fails to survive into Early Modern Korean, while 므스 vanishes near the end of the eighteenth century. The default Early Modern interrogative determiner is 므슴 (meuseum, “what”), which loses its rhetorical sense and becomes a general interrogative determiner.
• 므슨 (meuseun), probably a hypercorrection of 므슴 (meuseum) motivated by the adnominal ending 은 (eun), is first attested in 1637 and becomes more widespread than 므슴 around 1850, producing Modern Standard Korean 무슨 (museun).

Descendants

• ⇒ Early Modern Korean: 므섯 (muses, “what”), 므엇 (meueot, “what”) (contraction from 므스 것 (musu kes, “what thing”))
  • Korean: 무엇 (mueot, “what”), 뭐 (mwo)

Adverb

므스〮 (mùsú)

1. (interrogative) Alternative form of 므슴 (musum, “how could...”)

References

• 이광호 (Yi Gwang-ho) (2009) “'므스'와 '므슥/므슴/므슷'의 의미특성 및 형태변화”, in Gugeo gungmunhak, volume 151, pages 35—57
• 장요한 (Jang Yo-han) (2013) “중세국어 의문사 '므스'류의 교체 양상과 단일화”, in Eoneowa jeongbo sahoe, volume 20, pages 235—259
• 장요한 (Jang Yo-han) (2017) “중세 국어 의문사 '므슴'의 품사 발달과 그 원리”, in Urimalgeul, volume 75, pages 29—50