[KS] By train from Seoul to Incheon--what's in a name?

sumnom at u.washington.edu sumnom at u.washington.edu
Wed Jan 25 00:40:45 EST 2006


Here is an interesting account from the Sillok concerning an unlucky tiger's fatal encounter with Taejo. It also provides an example of the usage of "kyongsong":


虎入京城多害人物太祖射殪之


Source: http://sillok.history.go.kr/inspection/inspection.jsp?mTree=0&id=waa_000065&pId=waa_000065





On Tue, 24 Jan 2006, Stefan Ewing wrote:

> Dear KS list members:
>
> All right, it's my turn to ask a vexing question.  The question and its 
> motivation are arcane and necessarily long, so my apologies in advance, and 
> please feel free to skip this posting entirely.
>
> (For consistency's sake, I'm using McCune-Reischauer for almost all place names 
> in this article, both historical and modern.  Some names go by different 
> renditions today.)
>
> Korea's first railway line was built during the era of foreign concessions, at 
> the close of the 19th century.  In 1899, a line was opened connecting 
> Noryangjin (across the river from the city gates of Hanso^ng--modern-day Seoul) 
> with Chemulp'o in Inch'o^n, the forerunner of today's Kyo^ngin Line.  (The 
> Noryangjin-Kuro stretch is now part of the Kyo^ngbu Line to Pusan, a 6-track 
> artery served by everything from the high-speed KTX to lowly, 
> packed-to-the-handrails local Line 1 subway trains.)
>
> Historical articles on the early development of Korean railways invariably 
> refer to the original 1896 line as the Kyo^nginso^n (so^n = Line; 
> http://www.korail.go.kr/2003/100th/year/index1.html) or Kyo^ngin Ch'o^lto 
> (Railway; http://webzine.korail.go.kr/20050402/00250.html).  If the line was in 
> fact so named in 1896--which is not at all clear--this would indicate that the 
> characters in the line's name were chosen because the line connects the capital 
> (so^ul kyo^ng) with Inch'o^n (o^jil in).  The Kyo^ngbu (to Pusan, opened 1905) 
> and Kyo^ngu^i Lines (to Sinu^iju, 1906) appear to have been named on a similar 
> pattern.
>
> The sticking point is that, up until 1910, Seoul's name was Hanso^ng, and 
> thereafter changed by or under the Japanese authorities to Kyo^ngso^ng. 
> Long-time Korean practice before and since has been to name many provinces, 
> transportation routes, or events by joining together one character from each of 
> the two place names involved: thus, Ch'ungch'o^ng-do (Ch'ungju-Ch'o^ngju); the 
> Kyo^ngjo^n (Kyo^ngsang-Cho^lla) railway line; the Kuma (Taegu-Masan) 
> Expressway; and relevant to the recent discussion, the Puma (Pusan-Masan) 
> Uprising(s) (?--cannot find their mention now).  Why, then, was the original 
> railway called not, say, the Hanin (Hanso^ng-Inch'o^n) Ch'o^lto, but the 
> somewhat contrived Kyo^ngin Ch'o^lto?
>
> That Seoul was not officially named as such until one year after liberation in 
> 1946 does not preclude the possibility that the word "so^ul" ("capital") was 
> used colloquially to refer to the city prior to that time.  When streetcars 
> first came to the capital in 1898, the operating company--Hanso^ng Cho^ngi 
> Hoesa--was referred to in English as the "Seoul Electric Co." 
> (http://www.seoul.go.kr/life/life/culture/history_book/picture_seoul2/7/1203339_3020.html 
> , 7th photo from top; note Han'gu^l rendition of company's name as "Hansyo^ng 
> Tyo^ngu^i Hoesa").  Could the character "kyo^ng" have had some currency as a 
> written noun, equivalent to the colloquial name "Seoul"?
>
> It is also possible that the original railway had a different name and that the 
> modern name--Kyo^ngin--has only been applied to the line retrospectively by 
> later writers.  Under this scenario, the Kyo^ngin Line and its pre-1910 younger 
> sisters--the Kyo^ngbu and Kyo^ngu^i Lines to Pusan and Sinu^iju 
> respectively--would have been so renamed some time after the Japanese 
> annexation.  In that case, the first character in each line's new name would 
> presumably have come from the "kyo^ng" in "Kyo^ngso^ng" (the Japanese "Keijo"), 
> Seoul's new name--the same character, but with a different story behind it.
>
> To summarize, my question, then, is this: Was the name "Kyo^ngin" chosen (over, 
> say, "Hanin"), because the character kyo^ng denotes "capital," the Korean 
> equivalent--Seoul/So^ul--being the colloquial name for Hanso^ng?  Are there 
> attestations in other (non-rail-related) sources to the use of "kyo^ng" (or 
> "Seoul") to refer to the capital during the Choso^n Dynasty?  Or is this a 
> commentary on non-scholarly historiography, with modern writers retrospectively 
> applying an anachronistic name to the railway, the original name lost in the 
> mists of time?  Or between the railway's concession holder--James R. Morse--and 
> the Koreans with whom he worked, was this highly idiosyncractic name the simple 
> result?
>
> I hope someone, somewhere on this list can provide some sort of satisfactory 
> answer.  It would appear that whatever the answer, there's an interesting story 
> waiting to emerge!
>
> Thanks in advance,
> Stefan Ewing
>
> _________________________________________________________________
> Designer Mail isn't just fun to send, it's fun to receive. Use special 
> stationery, fonts and colors. 
> http://join.msn.com/?pgmarket=en-ca&page=byoa/prem&xAPID=1994&DI=1034&SU=http://hotmail.com/enca&HL=Market_MSNIS_Taglines 
> Start enjoying all the benefits of MSN. Premium right now and get the first two 
> months FREE*.
>
>
>






More information about the Koreanstudies mailing list