Language Log

« previous post |

"Oxford English Dictionary adds seven new Korean words including ‘dalgona’ and ‘tteokbokki’:  This is the first time since September 2021 that the dictionary has added new Korean words"
Shahana Yasmin, The Independent (1/7/25)

Korean has accepted many English words into its vocabulary, including "hotdog" (except in the north, where it is forbidden).  Now, with Korean culture and economy booming globally, it is not surprising that Korean language will be spreading too.

…According to the OED’s website on Tuesday, the words “noraebang,” “hyung,” “jjigae,” “tteokbokki” and “pansori” were also added in the December update.

…Dalgona, which entered the pop culture lexicon with the release of Netflix’s hit show Squid Game in 2021, is defined as a “Korean confection made by adding baking soda to melted sugar, typically sold by street vendors in the form of a flat disc with a simple shape such as a heart, star, etc., carved on its surface”.

…Maknae is “the youngest person in a family or group; the youngest member of a K-pop group”.

Borrowed from Korean 막내 (mangnae, “youngest person in a group”), transferred from its original meaning of "lastborn child".  (Wiktionary)

From 18th century 막나이 (mangnai), from 막 (mak, “end”) (as in 마지막 (majimak), 막바지 (makbaji)) + 낳— (nat-, “to bear, to bring forth”) + —이 (-i, agent suffix). (Wiktionary)

Noraebang is a “private room which can be hired by a person or group to perform karaoke; an establishment featuring one or more of such rooms”.

Hyung is defined as “a boy or man’s elder brother. Also as a respectful form of address or term of endearment, and in extended use with reference to an older male friend”.

Borrowed from Korean 형(兄) (hyeong, “older brother of a man”). (Wiktionary)

Sino-Korean word from 兄. (Wiktionary)

From Middle Chinese 兄 (MC xjwaeng).  (Wiktionary)

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *maŋ (“big; old; elder (brother, uncle)”) (Sagart, 1999; STEDT). Related to 孟 (OC *mraːŋs, “great; eldest brother; first”); see there for more.

Schuessler (2007), instead, connects it to Proto-Lolo-Burmese *ʔwyik (“elder sibling”), which is from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *ʔik (“elder brother”).

Alternatively, Benedict (1972) relates it to Proto-Sino-Tibetan *bʷaŋ ~ *pʷaŋ (“(paternal) uncle; elder brother”), which is possibly also related to 伯 (OC *praːɡ, “paternal uncle; eldest brother”). 

(Wiktionary)

I have singled out two generational terms, maknae and hyung, for etymological analysis because I spotted that the first of the two is a native, indigenous term and the second is Sino-Korean, so I wanted to see how their derivation differed.  That was fun.

Like the previous time, more food-related words have been added into the dictionary, like jjigae, which means “any of various broth-based stews, typically made with seafood, meat, or vegetables,” and tteokbokki, which is a “Korean dish consisting of small, cylindrical rice cakes cooked in a spicy sauce made with gochujang, usually served as a snack”.

Pansori is a “traditional Korean narrative musical work performed by a single singer, accompanied by a drummer”.

Ironically, the last item on the list, pansori, is the least hip, but it is also the term among all the seven new Korean words in the OED that I learned first, more than half a century ago when I was in graduate school.  I saw it performed in America and in Korea.  Because it is a genre of  traditional Korean musical storytelling and I was doing research on prosimetric oral narrative in medieval China, I was interested in the parallels.  In general, pansori is much beloved by musicologists, and I dare say that I will see it performed again when I go to Korea in May of this year.

A new word in English can be very old in Korean.

 

Selected readings

• "Hotdogs banned in North Korea" (1/11/25)
• "Bilingual paronomasia in Literary Sinitic and Korean" (11/5/16) — see the third comment
• "Konglish" (8/11/15) — Gangnam Style

[h.t. rit malors]

January 12, 2025 @ 11:47 am · Filed by Victor Mair under Borrowing, Etymology, Language and entertainment, Language and food, Language and music, Lexicon and lexicography

Permalink