[KS] Re: ICAS Seminar: Presidents of South Korea, September

[Henny Savenije]

Actually I can add my two cents worth as well: Vaz Dourado called it on his 
first map of Korea Conray (1568), (besides the manuscripts the first 
existing map of Korea). Texeira called it through Ortelius (the second 
"official" map) in 1595. Van Linschoten called it Core (1595), but on the 
map in his book is written ihla de Corea. In all of the Dutch documents I 
have seen it written as Corea, Correa, Corre, Coree and Coray (sometimes in 
the same document), On an anonymous Dutch map  in a manuscript with the 
discoveries of
Mathijs Quast and Abel Tasman in 1639. (Amsterdam 17th century) you can 
find Coria. The French preferred to use Corée. On some maps one will find 
Kauli and Corea at the same time. The change is indeed a gradual one. In 
the article I have written for "Korean Studies" you can examine all the 
varieties through time on maps, on my website in the 17th century Dutch 
document, but indeed the Japanese were not the first to write it with a K. 
On a map of  Quan-tong or Lea-tonge province; and the kingdom of Kau-li or 
Corea. [London:
T. Kitchin, 1780] one will also find the sea of Korea. I am inclined to say 
that the change occurred gradually in the 18th century as well as the 
reference to the Sea of Corea, Gulf of Corea, East Sea, Mare Orientalis to 
Japanese Sea or Sea of Japan. The sea south of Japan was initially called 
the sea of Japan.  De La Pérrouse was on a cartographic expedition and 
named the sea the Japanese sea. So from roughly the middle of the 17th 
century to the end of the 18th century the sea was called the Sea of Korea 
or any variant of it but sometimes as the East Sea and even one time as the 
North Sea. After 1800 it gradually changes it's name on western maps to the 
Sea of Japan, though even on earlier maps one can occasionally see that 
name being used.


At 05:29 PM 09/13/1999 , Gari Keith Ledyard wrote:
>In re Corea or Korea, since my name has been mentioned I might as well
>recapitulate some earlier discussion on this net.  "Corea" was coined by
>Spanish or Portuguese mariners sailing in Japanese waters in the 16th
>century, on the basis of Japanese utterings of the Korean name KoryO,
>which was pronounced Ko^rai in Japanese.  Although "KoryO" was already a
>couple of centuries out of date as a dynastic name, it continued until
>recent times to be a common East Asian regional name for Korea (cf. also
>the Chinese form, "Gaoli," current in Chinese speech well into the
>twentieth century).  Westerners latinized "Korai" into a feminine "Corea,"
>and this form was the most common in Western writings down to the 1880s,
>which ushered in a few decades in which both "Corea" and "Korea" were
>commonly seen.  I have heard it said that the Japanese were responsible
>for the change to "K," but I know of no evidence or rationale in favor of
>this assertion.  U.S. diplomats started with "C" in 1882 but switched back
>and forth throughout the 80s and into the 90s, with "K" gradually
>prevailing.  It seems more likely to me that the Japanese went along with
>this trend.  I notice that Sugimura Fukashi, Secretary at the Japanese
>Legation in Seoul in the 1890s, who wrote his personal diary in English,
>used "K", but scores of westerners used it earlier.
>         As to why someone would start using the phrase "Corean-American"
>in our own time, who can tell?  Some might feel that C looks cooler than
>K.  Others might prefer a Latinate rather than a Germanic look.  Still
>others might just like to be different.  No harm done.  People will do
>what they want, and in the Anglophone world, there are no academic bodies
>lawfully charged with the responsibility to police the language and issue
>diktats on spelling.
>
>Gari Ledyard
>
>
>On Mon, 13 Sep 1999, icas wrote:
>
> > Dear Ms Campana:
> >
> > Thank you for the query.  In fact, that is one of the most
> > frequently-asked-questions.  I've met many people who seem to know much
> > more about the "K" v "C" issue(s)  including Gari Ledyard.  Will any
> > person be willing to volunteer to addres on this matter?  Thank you.
> >
> > Regards,
> > Sang Joo Kim
> > ICAS
> > http://www.dvol.com/~users/icas
> > ---------------------------------
> >
> > Andrea Campana wrote:
> >
> > > Why Corean-American with C for Korean?
> > >
> > > ----------
> > > > Da: Evensen <executiv at xmission.com>
> > > > A: korean-studies at mailbase.ac.uk
> > > > Oggetto: Re: R: ICAS Seminar: Presidents of South Korea, September
> > > 14,1999, Philadelphia]
> > > > Data: domenica 12 settembre 1999 15.54
> > > >
> > > > The header of the icas email showed it as: Institute for
> > > > Corean-American Studies
> >
> >
> >

-----------------------------
Henny  (Lee Hae Kang)

Feel free to visit
http://www.henny-savenije.demon.nl
and feel the thrill of Hamel discovering Korea (1653-1666)


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