JEJUEO-ENGLISH BASIC DICTIONARY (제주어-영어 기초 사전)

Changyong Yang (Jeju National University)

William O'Grady (University of Hawai‘i)

Sejung Yang (Jeju National University)

Preface

This brief dictionary was prepared to accompany Jejueo: The Language of Korea's Jeju Island, our book published by the University of Hawai‘i Press in November 2019 (although with a 2020 publication date). 

The dictionary consists of two parts:  a Jejueo-to-English section and a somewhat smaller English-to-Jejueo section. As the two examples below illustrate, entries in the Jejueo-to-English lexicon begin with Romanized head words, each of which is followed by the Hangeul spelling and an approximate English Synonym; the Jejueo-to-English version runs in the opposite direction.

Jejueo-to-English (제주어-영어):               English-to-Jejueo (영어-제주어):

eleubda 에릅다 difficult                             difficult eleubda 에릅다

jiseul 지슬 potato                                       potato jiseul 지슬       

menggeulda 멩글다 make                         make menggeulda 멩글다

nang 낭 tree                                               tree nang 낭

In choosing the entries for this dictionary, we focused on the basic concepts included in the Swadesh list and Ogden’s compilation of Basic English, as well as words of special relevance to life on Jeju Island.

      Although it is sometimes suggested that the Jejueo lexicon has been strongly shaped by non-Korean influences, especially Mongolian (the Island was under Mongol rule for more than a century, beginning in 1273). In fact, however, Mongolian influence on modern Jejueo is barely perceptible. There are just two hundred or so words that can be traced to Mongolian, mostly pertaining to horses and cattle (Kang 2007; Ko 2011a; Seok 1947).

      Table 1. Words of Mongolian origin in Jejueo

Direct borrowing from other languages in the area is also modest, as indicated by the following  estimates from Seok (1947:127-31); see also Ko (2011a:347-355) and Kang (2007: 105-117).

      Table 2. Borrowings from other languages

The vast majority of the Jejueo words in our dictionary are thus Koreanic: they are descended from the same source as their Korean counterparts and are thus cognates. This is exactly what one would expect from two closely related languages that have been in close contact over the centuries.

      In case you’d like to find out more about Jejueo vocabulary, here are some resources that you can consult:

Hyun, Pyung-hyo, Jong-Cheol Kim, Yeong-Don Kim, Yeong-bong Kang, Gwang-min Ko, Chang-myeong Oh, Seunghun Oh, and Sun-Ja Kim. 2009. Gaejeong jeungbo Jejueo sajeon 개정 증보 제주어 사전 [Revised Jejueo dictionary]. Jeju City: Jeju Special Self-Governing Province.

Kang, Yeong-bong. 1999. Jejueowa jungse Monggoleoui bigyo yeongu 제주어와 중세 몽골어의 비교 연구[A comparative study betweenJejueo and Middle Mongolian]. Tamnamunwha, 20, 1-16.

Kang, Yeong-bong. 2007. Jejueo 제주어 [Jeju language]. Seoul: National Folk Museum of Korea.

Seok, Ju-Myeong. 1947. Jejudo bangeonjib 제주도 방언집 [A collection of Jeju dialect]. Seoul: Seoul Shinmunsa.

Ko, Jae-Whan. 2011a. Jejueo gaelon 제주어 개론 [Introduction to Jejueo]. Vol.1. Seoul: Bogosa.

Ko, Jae-Whan. 2011b. Jejueo gaelon 제주어 개론 [Introduction to Jejueo]. Vol. 2. Seoul: Bogosa.

Oh, Seunghun & Soon-Deok Moon. 2013. Jejueo gicho eowhi seonjeong mich hwalyong bangan 제주어 기초어휘 선정 및 활용방안 [Selection of basic vocabulary of the Jeju dialect and plans for practical use]. Jeju City:  Jeju Development Institute.

Song, Sang Jo. 2007. Jejumal keun sajeon 제주말 큰사전 [Jeju speech grand dictionary]. Seoul:  Hangukmunwhasa. 

Jejueo-English Dictionary (제주어-영어 사전)

English-Jejueo Dictionary (영어-제주어 사전)

This work was supported by the Core University Program for Korean Studies through the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Korea and the Korean Studies Promotion Service of the Academy of Korean Studies (AKS-2015-OLU-2250005).