Puneet Varma (Editor)

Hunminjeongeum

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Hanja
  
訓民正音

McCune–Reischauer
  
Hunminjŏngŭm

Revised Romanization
  
Hunminjeong(-)eum

Originally published
  
1446

Hunminjeongeum uploadwikimediaorgwikipediacommons001Hunmin

Hangul
  
훈민정음 (modern Korean) 훈〮민져ᇰ〮ᅙᅳᆷ (original name)

Similar
  
Yongbieocheonga, Jikji, Uigwe, Nanjung Ilgi, Dongui Bogam

Hunminjeongeum (lit. The Correct/Proper Sounds for the Instruction of the People) is a document describing an entirely new and native script for the Korean language. The script was initially named after the publication, but later came to be known as hangul. It was created so that the common people illiterate in hanja could accurately and easily read and write the Korean language. It was announced in Volume 102 of the Annals of King Sejong, and its formal supposed publication date, October 9, 1446, is now Hangul Day in South Korea. The Annals place its invention to the 25th year of Sejong's reign, corresponding to 1443-1444.

Contents

Content

The publication is written in Classical Chinese and contains a preface, the alphabet letters (jamo), and brief descriptions of their corresponding sounds. It is later supplemented by a longer document called Hunminjeongeum Haerye that is designated as a national treasure No. 70. To distinguish it from its supplement, Hunminjeongeum is sometimes called the "Samples and Significance Edition of Hunminjeongeum" (훈민정음예의본; 訓民正音例義本).

The Classical Chinese (漢文/hanmun) of the Hunminjeongeum has been partly translated into Middle Korean. This translation is found together with Worinseokbo, and is called the Hunminjeongeum Eonhaebon.

The first paragraph of the document reveals King Sejong's motivation for creating hangul:

  • Classical Chinese (Original):
    • 國之語音
    異乎中國
    與文字不相流通
    故愚民 有所欲言
    而終不得伸其情者多矣
    予爲此憫然
    新制二十八字
    欲使人人易習便於日用"耳"(矣)
  • Mix of hanja (Chinese characters) and Hangul (Eonhaebon):
  • Rendered into written Korean (Eonhaebon):
  • Translation (metaphrase):
  • Translation (paraphrase):

    • Versions

    The manuscript of the original Hunminjeongeum has two versions:

  • Seven pages written in Classical Chinese, except where the Hangul letters are mentioned, as can be seen in the image at the top of this article. Three copies are left:
  • The one found at the beginning of the Haerye copy
  • The one included in Sejongsillok (세종실록; 世宗實錄; "The Sejong Chronicles"), Volume 113.
  • The Eonhaebon, 36 pages, extensively annotated in hangul, with all hanja transcribed with small hangul to their lower right. The Hangul were written in both ink-brush and geometric styles. Four copies are left:
  • At the beginning of Worinseokbo (월인석보; 月印釋譜), an annotated Buddhist scripture
  • One preserved by Park Seungbin
  • One preserved by Kanazawa, a Japanese person
  • One preserved by the Japanese Ministry of Royal Affairs

    • References

    Hunminjeongeum Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA