Korean Job Discussion Forums

[chaz47]

Anyone else notice that the "Gam" in "Gam Gi" is the one that means "feeling, emotion, etc." combine that with "Gi" meaning "energy"... what do you get? In my opinion this would read as "feeling engergetic"... when I have a cold I definitely feel less than energetic.

There is another "Gam" which means "limiting/limited" the two characters are quite similar in appearance and this one would make more sense... if I have a cold my energy/life force... "Gi", definitely feels limited.

At first I thought this was an error but I have seen it in two different Hanja dictionaries. I checked Zhongwen.com for a Chinese meaning, the one I found used the same first character but the second one was different... not "Gi".

Any thoughts on this one?

Also any forums/discussions/threads for Hanja nerds and aspiring Hanja nerds?

I was recently told that the Hanja "Mi" for "Miguk" as in America is different in Japan... what do the Japanese use for the U.S.?

[laogaiguk]

I could post, but I will be lazy and just wait for Mithradates to do it. He is by far the most knowledgable one around here for these kinds of things. I am not totally sure of my answer anyways. To be honest, this thread should be a total of two posts, the OPs and then Mithradates explaining.

[ajgeddes]

Just to make a quick answer. The 'mi' used for America in Japanese is the 'mi' for rice.

This one:

米

However, this is what is used for America in Japanese:

アメリカ

It says..... America

[laogaiguk]

[ajgeddes]

Laogaiguk wrote that stuff before I edited my post.

[Qinella]

Handbook of Korean Vocabulary translates 氣 in this instance to "air". 感 is feeling. So.. feeling air. Maybe comes from an old belief that cold wind can make you sick?

Sometimes Hanja characters have multiple meanings.

http://hanja.naver.com/hanja.naver?where=brow_hanja&id=8507

㉠ 기운 energy
㉡ 숨 breath
㉢ 힘 physical power
㉣ 자연 현상 free (현상 dunno)
㉤ 기체 gas; vapor

Interesting question. Still seems a bit strange.

[ajgeddes]

And Qinella puts the nail in the coffin

[Guri Guy]

Spot on Qinella.

I find the study of Linguistics and word origins fascinating.
If anyone wants a really good book on the subject I recommend:

Handbook of Korean Vocabulary
A Resource for word recognition and comprehension

Milho Choo and William O'Grady

This book examines the Chinese origins of a lot of words as well as native Korean words. Useful for building up your vocabulary. I bought a copy at Kyobo book store in Gwanghwamun. I believe it was around 14,000 to 16,000 won.

[Lizara]

According to my hanja book, they use "mi", like beautiful, for America because of its resemblance to the "me" part of America. As far as I know the hanja for rice is pronounced as gwang in Korean and something pretty close to that in Chinese.

[noelinkorea]

Nope - the pronunciation for ڷ is �� /mi/.

You're more likely thinking of �� which is pronounced �� /kwang/...they look remotely similar.

[Qinella]

[billybrobby]

http://hanmunlove.nazero.net/bbs/zboard.php?id=hanmun6&page=1&sn1=&divpage=1&sn=off&ss=on&sc=on&select_arrange=hit&desc=desc&no=23

Here's the answer, I think. Seems Quinella was basically right. Here 감 has more the meaning of "influence" (감응) and 기 is "energy" (기운) so it's like the influence of a bad energy like a cold wind.

[Qinella]

[billybrobby]

Well, you connected it to the idea of cold wind, and...uh...i dunno. fine, you were wrong. how do you think I found the page? I just typed in 감기 and 한자 in google and it was the third result.