[KS] Joseon-era official terms

Joshua Van Lieu sumnom at u.washington.edu
Thu Dec 30 13:32:16 EST 2010


In our discussion thus far we, including myself, have written of standard and non-standard translations but I am not so sure how a particular translation becomes "standard." Are the Wagner and Palais translations "standard" or just the only ones we have in many instances?

The AKS glossary is a wonder! I have been laboring in a decidedly twentieth-century world of bound paper references.

Joshua Van Lieu
Center for Korea Studies
University of Washington

On Thu, 30 Dec 2010, BakerDon wrote:

> The most convenient way to find the standard translations for the titles of institutions and positions in pre-modern Korea is the
> glossary available on-line from the Academy of Korean Studies. The url is:http://www.aks.ac.kr/glossary/default.asp
> 
> However, sometimes some of their translations are not the standard translations. For the standard translations, you should look at
> the glossary prepared by Edward Wagner for his The Literati Purges: Political Conflict in Early Yi Korea (1974) and the glossary
> James Palais attached to his study of Yu Hyongwon, Confucian Statecraft and Korean Institutions. A third source would be the glossary
> to the recently published English translation of Tasan's Mongmin simseo, under the name Admonitions on Governing the People. 
> 
> 공조판서 is usually translated as Chief Minister of the Ministry of Public Works, though the AKS glossary gives the somewhat
> anachronistic translation Minister of Commerce
> 
> 의금부 is usually translated as the State Tribunal, though that glossary says Correctional Tribun! al
> 
> 포도부 is not in the AKS glossary.  捕盜廳 is, and it is translated as Capital Police. So I suspect that 포도부 is the local police
> station. That means 捕盜部將 should be translated as police chief.  However, in some contexts it refers to the prison, and
> therefore 捕盜部將 would be the warden of the prison. Calling him the Commander for the Arrest of Bandits is too ! literal. 
> 
> This is all of the top off my head, since I am far away from my home library today (I'm in South Carolina, visiting family, and there
> isn't much on Korea in the libraries here!)
> 
> 
> Don Baker Professor
> Department of Asian Studies 
> University of British Columbia 
> Vancouver, Canada V6T 1Z2 
> don.baker at ubc.ca
> 
> 
> 
> 
> _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
> Date: Wed, 29 Dec 2010 19:07:45 -0800
> From: djtorrey at yahoo.com
> To: koreanstudies at koreaweb.ws
> Subject: [KS] Joseon-era ! official terms
> 
> Dear Members:
> 
> I'm trying to determine the English for the terms listed below. Charles Hucker's Dictionary of Official Titles in Imperial China
> gives some, but not all, and I'm also wondering if the translations would be different for the Korean context. I'm also listing my
> tentative translations. If they are incorrect, or if you know of better alternatives, please respond. Many thanks in advance.
> 
> Deberniere Torrey
> 
> 
> 공조판서 gong jo pan seo (工曹判書): Minister of the Works Section
> 
> 의금부 ui geum bu (義禁府): Justice and Prohibition Office (or Bureau)
> (For this one, I've also seen Royal Prohibition Bureau; State Tribunal; and Royal Inspector's Office.)
> 
> 포도부/ 포도부장 po do bu / po do bu jang (捕盜部/ 捕盜部將! ) Office for the Arrest of Bandits / Commander for the Arrest of
> Bandits. (This is what Hucker gives.)
> 
> 
> 
> 
>


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