[KS] word origins

[Morgan Clippinger]

Dave and others:

 

An interesting question.  If we knew when the word entered the language, we could probably make a better guess.  I have no clue, except that the term has been around for some time and seems to have universal recognition.

 

Obviously it is from English "fight."  The Japanese have used the term for decades as faito.  But in Korean this is rendered paiteu (p'ait#365;)  with the same approximate meaning (t'uji) or fighting spirit.

 

But how did the –ing suffix slip in there?  One  possibility is that this is a shortened form of the expression "fighting spirit" (jeontu jeongsin), which I find in Yi Hui-seung's Kugo taesajon (1961, I think.).  Maybe close, but probably no cigar.

 

Going out on a limb here, isn't it also possible that the Korean use of "fighting" might have come from the common American football cheer:  "Fight team, fight!"  There is a musical genre in the US called "college football fight songs," and the word "fight" or "fighting" is found in dozens of them.  Notre Dame's football team was called the "Fighting Irish.  Michigan State's fight song, among others, includes the line "fight team fight."  I remember the cheerleaders at our high school back in the 1940s would always end their cheers with a vigorous "Fight team, fight!"  

 

Could it be that the cheer "Fight, team!" or "Fight team, fight!" was interpreted/heard by Koreans (hundreds of thousands of students and visitors, or via TV or movies) as "fighting?"  (Try saying "fight team" seven or eight times in rapid succession.)  The idea seems not too far-fetched.  Of course in Korea today the use of "fighting"—sometimes accompanied by a "high-five"—goes well beyond sports events.  

 

Anyway, this is pure speculation and contributed in the hopes of enlivening the holiday doldrums in the Korean Studies Discussion List.  I would like to hear other theories on this linguistic (albeit not world-shaking) conundrum.

 

Paiting!  

 

Morgan Clippinger


Dennis Lee <brightrising at hotmail.com> wrote:Dave:

I had always assumed it was imported from the Japanese "fight-o!" which is
used in the same context. I never fail to hear it at Japanese sporting
events.

In English, when you have have a fight about to happen, chants of "fight!
fight! fight!" from a gathering crowd are not uncommon. I'm purely
speculating, but perhaps through some medium (most likely a movie) it
crunched through the Japanese linguistic apparatus and then passed over to
Korea. In any case, I am also curious about its origin.

Happy Holidays!
Dennis Lee




----- Original Message ----- 
From: "David C. Kang" 
To: 
Sent: Saturday, December 27, 2003 11:49 AM
Subject: [KS] word origins


hi everyone:

Following on the scholarly discussion about "hanunim/etc.," I'd like
to post a less scholarly question.

During the holidays my family was talking about the origins of the
Korean cheer "fighting!"
I assume this is somehow an outgrowth of the 8th army -- but does
anybody really know how this came to be used in Korea?

-Dave







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