Korean Job Discussion Forums

[wylies99]

Itaewon: What's in a name?

http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=59769

Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Sunday, January 4, 2009

Itaewon has long been known as the foreigner�s neighborhood in South Korea.

The area got its name more than four centuries ago, when invading Japanese troops broke into a Buddhist temple there and raped the nuns.

When the Korean government returned to Seoul after the invasion, it allowed nuns who had gotten pregnant to live and raise their babies there at a nursery established for them.

The area was named I Tae Won. "I" means "different," "Tae" means "fetus," and "Won" means "home." Some Japanese troops who surrendered at the end of the war settled in Itaewon, establishing a permanent foreign presence there.

During the 1600s, Itaewon�s name came to mean "large pear tree" because of the trees planted there. There isn�t a single remaining pear tree in Itaewon.

Itaewon is know home to most of Seoul�s expat population.

SOURCE: Bae Woo-ri, Korean language scholar and president of the Korea Toponym Society.

[Straphanger]

Personally, I don't care for Shitaewon.

[Socks]

[slim dusty]

For those who don't know how to use the online naver dictionary, the meaning of the name Itaewon can be found through the Chinese characters each syllable designates

이태원 = 梨泰院

梨 = 배나무 이 = Pear trees
泰 = 클 태 = Big
院 = 집 원 = Home

So, in English, the name Itaewon means something like 'home of the great pear trees'

[sojusucks]

Foreigner's neighborhood = enthnic enclave society.

These happen all the time (think Chinatown). I took a course on human diaspora and the formation of ethnic enclave societiies in university. It is a very interesting subject.

Sons of the Yellow River is the only book I can recall at the moment. All my books from that course are back home though.

[mithridates]