[KS] Days of the Week

Baker Don ubcdbaker at hotmail.com
Wed Jun 15 18:37:36 EDT 2005


In all this discussion about names for days of the week, no one mentioned 
one common term that used to be used the name a specific day. Until rampant 
modernization eliminated periodic markets,  the term jangnal [market day] 
was used quite frequently. Of course, it didn't mean a specific day of a 
7-day week. Rather it referred to the day every five or ten days when a 
periodic market was open,  Ten days was probably the norm for most markets 
in the 18th century and maybe even into the 19th. However, increasing 
commercialization and population growth led to more and more such markets 
in the countryside opening every 5th day. If you want to find a traditional 
Korean equivalent to Sunday, the closest you could probably come is 
Jangnal. That was the day peasants went to town to market their goods, buy 
things they couldn't make for themselves, and, in the case of the men, try 
a little local alcohol. As late as the 1970s you could still see country 
folk staggering home after a market day.  So Jangnal gave them the break 
from normal work many of us now get on weekends.  However, jangnal wouldn't 
show up on a calendar, since the day markets opened varied from place to 
place in accordance with the schedule of traveling merchants.


Don Baker
Associate Professor, 
Department of Asian Studies
Director, Centre for Korean Research
University of British Columbia
Vancouver, Canada V6T 1Z2
dbaker at interchange.ubc.ca

<br><br><br>>From: "Stefan Ewing" 
<sa_ewing at hotmail.com><br>>Reply-To: Korean Studies Discussion 
List <Koreanstudies at koreaweb.ws><br>>To: 
Koreanstudies at koreaweb.ws<br>>Subject: Re: [KS] James Scarth Gale & 
Days of the Week<br>>Date: Tue, 14 Jun 2005 09:56:39 
-0700<br>><br>>Dear KS list readers:<br>><br>>Thanks to both 
Deberniere Torrey and Christopher Liao for their <br>>informative 
replies, which coincidentally both touch on usage in 
<br>>Taiwan.<br>><br>>My money is on Gale's "ye-pai" 
representing "yebae"/"yeypay" and <br>>being 
equivalent to the "libai" used in Taiwan today.  Alas, online 
<br>>Kugo^ Sajo^n only give the basic meaning of "worship."  
Without <br>>access to an online Koo^ Sajo^n (is there one?), I'll go 
with Ms. <br>>Torrey's suggestion.<br>><br>>It was especially 
intriguing to learn that even during Taiwan's <br>>colonial years, the 
"shining-day" formation was not used, at least <br>>in speech. 
 (Christopher, was your father's and uncle's education in <br>>Mandarin? 
 I would have naively--and apparently wrongly--assumed <br>>that 
Mandarin did not become predominant in Taiwan until the 
<br>>Nationalists relocated there in 1949.)<br>><br>>Anyhow, this 
just deepens the mystery of when the usage disappeared <br>>from China 
itself.  Perhaps it was _never_ established usage, except <br>>among 
Jesuit missionaries!?<br>><br>>Stefan Ewing<br>><br>>>From: 
Christopher Liao <liao.christopher at gmail.com><br>>>Reply-To: 
Christopher Liao <liao.christopher at gmail.com>,Korean 
<br>>>Studies Discussion List 
<Koreanstudies at koreaweb.ws><br>>>To: Korean Studies Discussion 
List <Koreanstudies at koreaweb.ws><br>>>Subject: Re: [KS] James 
Scarth Gale & Days of the Week<br>>>Date: Tue, 14 Jun 2005 
19:51:42 +0900<br>>><br>>> ><br>>> > I wonder now, 
when exactly did these names for the days of the <br>>>week 
fall<br>>> > _out_ of use in the Chinese realm? Was it under the 
<br>>>Nationalists, or after<br>>> > Mao came to power in 
1949? They're not still used in Taiwan, are <br>>>they? 
I'm<br>>> > fairly sure that I've seen text written for a 
(pre-1997) Hong <br>>>Kong<br>>> > audience<br>>> > 
that uses numerical day names, even though that place was 
<br>>>largely immune<br>>> > to<br>>> > Mainland 
linguistic (mainly orthographic) 
changes.<br>>><br>>><br>>>Dear 
Stefan,<br>>><br>>>Taiwanese use numerical day names just like 
the Mainland Chinese. I <br>>>don't<br>>>think they ever used 
the day system still used by the Koreans and 
<br>>>Japanese<br>>>today. My father and uncle were both raised 
and educated during the <br>>>Japanese<br>>>colonial era in 
Taiwan, and it appears that even then they would 
<br>>>say<br>>>"li3bai4wu3" for "friday" 
when speaking in Mandarin, and only use 
<br>>>"kinyoubi"<br>>>when speaking in Japanese. 
Personally, I think "Kinyoubi" in modern 
<br>>>Chinese<br>>>pronunciation doesn't even sound natural. 
Hope this little tidbit <br>>>helps 
you.<br>>><br>>><br>>>Sincerely,<br>>><br>>>Christopher 
Liao<br>><br>>_________________________________________________________________<br>>Designer 
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