선무당
Korean
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Univerbation of 선 (seon, “inexperienced, awkward”) + 무당 (mudang, “shaman”).
Pronunciation
[edit]- (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA(key): [ˈsʰɘ(ː)nmuda̠ŋ]
- Phonetic hangul: [선(ː)무당]
- Though still prescribed in Standard Korean, most speakers in both Koreas no longer distinguish vowel length.
| Romanizations | |
|---|---|
| Revised Romanization? | seonmudang |
| Revised Romanization (translit.)? | seonmudang |
| McCune–Reischauer? | sŏnmudang |
| Yale Romanization? | sēnmutang |
Noun
[edit]선무당 • (seonmudang)
- (shamanism) an inexperienced novice priest or shaman
- Synonym: 애동제자 (aedongjeja)
- Antonym: 큰무당 (keunmudang, “great priest, accomplished priest”)
- Hypernyms: 무속인(巫俗人) (musogin), 무당(巫堂) (mudang); see also Thesaurus:무속인
- (figurative) a novice in any field
- (figurative) someone who actually knows little or is incompetent, but believes themselves to be knowledgeable or competent
Derived terms
[edit](proverbs)
- 선무당이 사람 잡는다 (seonmudang'i saram jamneunda, “a little knowledge is a dangerous thing”, literally “the novice shaman kills the person [that they were trying to heal]”)
- 선무당이 사람 속인다 (seonmudang'i saram soginda, “(of an incompetent person) to successfully trick someone into believing something”, literally “the novice shaman fools a person”)
- 선무당이 장구 탓한다 (seonmudang'i janggu tathanda, “(of a novice) to blame circumstances rather than one's own lack of practice”, literally “the novice shaman blames the drums”)