earticle

한국어

This paper examines some ‘names of grass green’ in literature and takes a first to a long journey in order to trace the etymology and form change of each grass green name. The names of grass green which are examined in this paper are ‘가 시연’(a prickly water lily), ‘거여목’(a snail clover), ‘고사리’(a bracken), and ‘꼭두서니’(a madder plant). The research is described especially in terms of the original form and meaning, the form and aspects of change, and the cause and result of loss in each grass green name. The ‘가시연’(a prickly water lily) goes back to ‘가련’ in modern Korean. The word is a compound word of ‘가 [刺]’(prickle) and ‘련(蓮)’(lotus), therefore, it represents ‘lotus with prickles)’. The word became ‘가싀련>가싀년’ and then ‘가시 연’(a prickly water lily) now. The flower which blooms on ‘가시 연’(a prickly water lily) is called ‘가시연꽃’(flower of prickly water lily), and the fruit on the ‘가시연’(a prickly water lily) is called ‘가시연밥’(fruit of prickly water lily). ‘가시연꽃’(fruit of prickly water lily) is exclusively used for referring to the names of grass green from which the flower blooms, not the flower itself. The ‘가시연밥’(a prickly water lily) goes back to ‘*가련밤’, and it is very strange that the ‘밤’ in the word took a change of form as ‘밥’(rice) in the change process. it is assumed that the feature that ‘가시연밥’(a prickly water lily) can be edible is the main cause of change the ‘밤’ into ‘밥’(rice). The ‘거여목’(a snail clover) goes back to ‘게여목’ in the 15th century. The ‘목’ might be ‘苜’(clover), but it is difficult to trace the etymology of ‘게여’. It is assumed that the ‘게여목’ became ‘게유목’ and then ‘게우목’, or became ‘거여목’ and then ‘게목’. Both ‘게우목’ and the ‘게목’ are standard words. The ‘고사리’(bracken) appeared as in the form of ‘고사리’ since the 15th century. It is assumed to have been changed from ‘*곱사리’. The ‘*곱사리’ is divided into ‘곱-[曲]’(curve) and ‘사리 (a coiled-bundle)’, and it represents ‘a coiled-bundle in the shape of curve’. The feature that bracken looks circinate and the top of the sinuous stem looks like ‘사리’(coiled-bundle) gives support to the explanation of the form change. The ‘꼭두서니’(a madder plant) goes back to ‘곱도’ in the 15th century. It was very hard to trace the etymology of ‘곱도’. But, the process of form change from ‘곱도’ into ‘꼭두서니’ can be found without difficulty. The ‘곱도’ became ‘곡도>곡도숑>곡도 송>곡도손’, and then ‘-이’, a suffix, is added to ‘곡두손’ to be ‘곡 두손이’, and it became ‘곡두선이’, and ‘꼭두서니’ finally. The ‘곡 두손이’, which is similar to ‘꼭두서니’ in the modern Korean, appeared in the 19th century literature at the first time.