Mahan language
| Mahan | |
|---|---|
| Han-Paekche, Old Paekche, Japanese Paekche, Aristocratic Paekche, Mahan Paekche | |
| Native to | Mahan confederacy |
| Region | Korea |
| Era | 1st century BC to 7th century AD[1][2] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
 | |
Mahan is the presumed ancient language of the Mahan confederacy in southern Korea. It is virtually unattested.
Denomination
[edit]This language can be referred to as Mahan,[3] Han-Paekche,[4] Old Paekche,[5] Japanese Paekche[6] or Aristocratic Paekche.[7]
Some believe that the Mahan can be subdivided into two periods:[2]
- Mahan (literal): From the 1st to 4th centuries AD;
- Mahan Paekche: From the 4th to 7th centuries AD
Ki-Moon Lee assumes that this is just Baekje with a substrate of Buyeo language[8][9]. This is different to Martine Robbeets, who believes that Mahan Paekche is separate from the Baekje and Buyeo language.[2]
Classification
[edit]From Chinese texts, Lee and Ramsey separate the languages of the Dong Yi into three groups:[10]
- The Suksin languages (or Suksinic[11]): Suksin, Umnu, Mulgil and Malgal. They perhaps could have been Tungusic[3]
- The Puyŏ languages: Buyeo, Goguryeo, Okjeo and Ye-Maek;
- The Han languages: Chinhan (became Silla), Byeonhan (became Gaya), Mahan (became Baekje).
They consider the Puyŏ languages and Han languages as a part of the same family.[12]
However, this language connection is not accepted by everyone. Furthermore, some consider it a Koreanic languages,[13] while others believe it is a Peninsular Japonic language.[14]
Alexander Vovin notes that the Japonic-origin toponyms of Samguk Sagi are mainly concentrated in the Han River basin's region, formerly part of Baekje and later annexed by Goguryeo. Furthermore, he finds that Mahan is very similar to pseudo-Goguryeo, so he concludes that such a differentiation may be artificial.[15]
Soo-Hee Toh, while taking toponyms into account, hypothesizes that Mahan, Ye-Maek and Gaya were the same language.[16]
Lexical comparison
[edit]Vovin, who supports a Japonic origin for Mahan, compares words from this language to words from islander Japonic.[17]
| English | French | Old Japanese | Proto-Ryūkyū | Insular Proto-Japonic | Mahan |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| fortress | forteresse | kömë- 'to lock up' | *kume- | *kɘmay- 'lock up' | *kuma |
| establishment | établissement | *ya-marö 'subdivision' | -- | *ya-maro | *yamru |
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Lee and Ramsey (2011), p. 44.
- ^ a b c Robbeets (2020), p. 6
- ^ a b Lee and Ramsey (2011), p. 35
- ^ Robbeets (2007), p. 19
- ^ Toh (2005), p. 12
- ^ Vovin (2017), p. 6 ; 12
- ^ Vovin (2014), p. 10
- ^ Soo-Hee Toh (1986). Chungham National University (ed.). "The Paekche Language: Its Formation and Features". Korean Linguistics. 4 (1): 33–46. doi:10.1075/kl.4.04sht. Retrieved 10 September 2024.
- ^ Lee and Ramsey (2011), p. 44.
- ^ Lee and Ramsey (2011), p. 34-35
- ^ Logie (2012)
- ^ Lee and Ramsey (2011), p. 49-50
- ^ Robbets (2007), p. 19-20 ; Robbeets (2020), p.3-5
- ^ Vovin (2013), p. 224 ; Vovin (2017), p. 5-6
- ^ Vovin (2017), p. 32
- ^ Toh (2005), p. 19
- ^ Vovin (2017), p. 12
Bibliography
[edit]- Vovin, Alexander (2013), Korean Linguistics (ed.), From Koguryo to Tamna: Slowly riding to the South with speakers of Proto-Korean, retrieved 10 September 2024
- Vovin, Alexander (2017), Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Linguistics (ed.), Origins of the Japanese Language, retrieved 10 September 2024
- Alexander Vovin (2014), EHESS/CRLAO (ed.), Out of Southern China?, retrieved 10 September 2024
- Andrew Logie (13 October 2012), Koreanology (ed.), Notes on the languages of the Three Kingdoms, retrieved 10 September 2024
- Lee, Ki-Moon; Ramsey, S. Robert (2011), A History of the Korean Language (PDF), Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-1-139-49448-9, retrieved 10 September 2024
- Martine Robbeets (2020), Oxford University Press (ed.), Archaeolinguistic evidence for the farming/language dispersal of Koreanic, retrieved 10 September 2024
- Martine Robbeets (2007), Korea in the Middle (ed.), Koguryo as a Missing Link, retrieved 10 September 2024
- Soo-Hee Toh (2005), Journal of Inner and East Asian Studies (ed.), About Early Paekche Language Mistaken as Being Koguryŏ Language (PDF), archived from the original (PDF) on 26 February 2009, retrieved 10 September 2024
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