Eight Key Concepts, an in depth analysis

[MBuzzy]

I recently received a hand out, although I do not know the original source. The handout confused me greatly, as it contradicted some of my understandings of the Korean Language.

Basically the idea was that it listed the 8 Key Concepts and then attempted to break them down into their "root words" and define them from there, kind of building smaller words to make the words used.

The reason that I say that it contradicts is that Korean is a syllable based language, so each character set is a syllable, most words contain multiple syllables, but that does not necessarily mean that any particular syllable can stand alone. That was the base assumption of this handout. My understanding was that Koreans do use root words in that way that we do, but not EVERY word is composed of root words, some were already in their base form.

I've attached the original handout (first page), along with my analysis (pages two and three). I would be greatly appreciative of any criticism or additional information that anyone can provide to me. Especially any roots that I may have missed, including verb conjugations...OR more interestingly, Hanja or Hanmun.

 

[MBuzzy]

Also, my Hangul spelling is a bit lacking, so I did not attempt to spell Him Cho Chung, Shin Chook, or Wan Gup...so if anyone can spell them for me, I would be appreciative.

My GUESSES are:
조중
신죽
완굽

Also, one last note. Part of the reason for what I think is a misunderstanding is the American need to make separate words. I see this quite frequently. In fact, I did it above and need to work on that bad habit. Cho Chung.....is actually one word, so would be written out as Chojung or some variation depending on your system of romanization. The same with shinjuk and wangup. I think it is possible that this misconception and "englishism" is the main reason for these types of things.

 

[JT_the_Ninja]

Interesting stuff...I always heard chung shin tong il parsed as "body and mind as one" in explaining why it means "concentration."

At least in C.S. Kim schools, there are three particular Korean phrases written on the walls and taught to all students for memorization:

Il kyuk (kyeok?) pil sal - one technique to finish (referring to fight-ending targets such as the neck, solar plexus, nether-regions, etc.)

Tang Soo Do chung shin - Tang Soo Do spirit

Chung shin tong il - Concentration (or, like I said, "body and mind as one")

All the other ones described in that document are in my gup manual, of course, but those are apparently the three big ones for us, since they're hung on the walls, along with the 10 Articles of Faith.

 

[MBuzzy]

I suppose one further comment is in order here. I have now found a great deal of the chinese (Hanja) characters for the 8 concepts, which really sheds light into the translations found on the attached document. My big question now is how the Korean words came about and what are their Korean roots if they have them....what other Korean words are related. Obviously a vast majority of Korean is "borrowed" from Chinese, but much of it has migrated away from the use of Hanja into simply Hangul.

JT brings up my exact point - translations vary. We can all agree (I hope) that the phrase chungshintongil translates to Concentration....but how is it broken down? Why was it broken down? How do the original Chinese characters play into the story? and how did they make their way into Korean culture and usage?

I am being shocked more and more every day how much of our KMA terms are really Chinese terms imported into Korea....but with different pronunciations.

JT - I'm curious if your school has the 10 articles of faith posted in Korean or English?

 

[JT_the_Ninja]

Korean has a lot of words borrowed from Chinese, yeah. Sometimes phonetically faithfully, I guess, but since Korean isn't tonal, I'd have to know quite a bit about both languages to do a comparative analysis...

...still, what use is a linguistics degree if I never use it...keep us posted!

On the 10 Articles of Faith, they're posted in English, so everyone can know and memorize them.

 

[MBuzzy]

Here is what I've completed so far. I may add in the Hangul translations. I did receive quite a bit of help on the translations and particularly the Chinese characters though, so basically all I ended up doing was referencing some dictionaries and checking definitions.

 

[Makalakumu]

Where did you get the original handout? Did they come directly out of the Federation material? If so, that would seem pretty weird, one would think that their would be plenty of Korean language experts there.

 

[MBuzzy]

No, that was not a federation product that I know of. Just a handout that I came across. There are plenty of Korean language experts and native speakers within the federation, just none within close proximity to me. But I enjoy learning and analyzing the language, so I take it upon myself.

It turns out after analysis, that the translations ARE all correct, but they are translations of the chinese borrow words, not Korean. Which is why my initial shot was in the wrong direction....toward the Hangul rather than the Hanja. I just believe that if stuff like this is going to be out there, then it should be laid out up front that the words are Hanja and not native Korean. Too many people are under the perception that it is ALL native Korean while a vast majority of the terminology that we use are Chinese imported into Korean.

 

[Errant108]

Right, the translations are literal translations of Hanja, which rarely actually give more than half a clue as to the actual meaning of the statement.

Also, Cheongsin Tongil is the most abused statement in the post-Occupation KMA.

It has absolutely nothing to do with body & mind as one, concentration, or right thinking or behavior (as the Kuk Sool Won likes to put it). It is a Daoist teaching, having to do with the unification & cultivation of Shen.

 

[MBuzzy]

It has absolutely nothing to do with body & mind as one, concentration, or right thinking or behavior (as the Kuk Sool Won likes to put it). It is a Daoist teaching, having to do with the unification & cultivation of Shen.

Can you explain this one a little more if you don't mind?

I think my next project will be to look deeper into meanings and what they actually mean rather than just straight translation.

Also, when you say the most abused statement, what do you mean?