[KS] Joseon-era official terms

[gkl1 at columbia.edu]

I agree with Don Baker that the lists compiled by Jim Palais and Ed
Wagner are very useful for the kind of needs that Deberniere Torrey
inquired about. Palais's list is alphabetically arranged in
McCune-Reischauer romanization, while Wagner organized his list
alphabetically according to his own Emglish translations-- which was
appropriate for "Literati Purges," the book in which it appears. But
anyone looking for the translation of a specific Korean term will have
to review the whole list. The good news is that it's not all that long
and is easily scanned, and that going through that process helps one's
understanding of the bureaucratic structure--which is good for a
lifetime
of Korean Studies. I'm not familiar with the list in the recent
English translation of the 목민심서 that Don mentions, but it should be
highly useful for Deberniere's work since it would include many terms
relating to provincial and local governance.

In the more recent comments on this thread there seems to be a general
interest in the consolidation and standardization of lists of
bureaucratic titles. Given different romanizations and the different
scholarly approaches of researchers over the whole range of
disciplines interested in the traditional structures, it would seem to
me very difficult to produce a single list or catalog that would suit
the interests of all scholars. I think it's much better to have a
general understanding of what goes on in the various branches, and on
the basis of that understanding, devise the translation that seems
most appropriate to the work of the individual scholar. Such
understanding can generally be found in a good Korean historical
encyclopedia.

Given the many differences between the bureaucracies of Ming and
Choson--not only terminological but structural--one will often strike
out in looking up a Korean title in Hucker's work, although it's
usefulness for Ming goes without saying. Actually, I think one might
find more Korean resonance with Tang and Song titles than with Ming
ones.

As for the specific titles that Deberniere mentions, my preferences would be:

공조판서  Director of the Board of Works (rank 2a), in charge of
construction, roads, and bridges, etc. (mostly in the capital and
surrounding area; little heard of in the provinces). "Board" was the
earlier sinological form and I personally like it more than
"Ministry," nowadays generally associated with parliamentary systems.

의금부  State Tribunal (headed by a rank 1b official). It should be noted that
this governmental unit is pretty much restricted to high state crimes such as
treason or malfeasance in office. The defendants are usually high
ranking officials or prominent sadaebu/yangban outside the government.
One will not find the doings of commoners or women there except as
witnesses against some powerful person.

포도부  My choice for this is "Tribunal for Common Crime" (literally "bandit
catching department"). This was where average Koreans accused of
crimes were dealt with. This involved also many Christians during the
anti-Catholic persecutions. This tribunal was under the authority of
한성부 (漢城府), as the local government of Seoul was formally known in
dynastic times. There were
actually two such tribunals, one in the eastern part of the city, the
other in the western part. They operated under the 포도청 (捕盜廳), or
Criminal division of the city government. For the most part they were
strictly for commoners and slaves and sometimes petty yangban who were
poor or of illegitimate status (서얼), such as Kang Wansuk and many
other Catholic men and women of lower status during the persecutions.
This tribunal existed only in Seoul. Crimes committed in Seoul were
investigated and culprits interrogated/tortured in one of these
tribunals, although if they were registered in outer provinces and
districts, they would be sent to their place of registration for the
final sentence to be carried out. Each of the two Seoul 포도부 were
formally headed by a 포도부장 (捕盜部長), but the last element of this title
was popularly written and widely seen in hanja as 部將 --"general" or
"commander."

Gari Ledyard

BakerDon <ubcdbaker at hotmail.com> 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 Tribunal
> 포도부장 is not in the AKS glossary.  포도부 is, and it is translated as     
>   Capital Police. So I suspect that 포도부 is the local police station.  
>      That means 포도부장 should be translated as police chief.  However,  
> in      some contexts it refers to the prison, and therefore 포도부장  
> 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 ProfessorDepartment 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/ 捕盜部 po do bu / po do bu jang (포도부/ 捕盜部將) Office for the
> Arrest of Bandits / Commander for the Arrest of Bandits. This is  
> what     Hucker gives.)
>
>
>
>