<월인천강지곡>의 국어사적 가치와 문헌적 성격에 대한 재조명

Abstract

This paper examined Worincheongangjigok (月印千江之曲) to underscore both its significance in light of the history of the Korean language and its bibliographical status and characteristics. To this end we took a historical-linguistic and bibliographical approach to this work, revealing its historical importance by comparing it with other contemporary works published right after the creation of Hunminjeongeum (the Korean Alphabet). We also shed lights on its bibliographical status and characteristics by comparing its narrative style with that of the Saddharma-puṇḍarīka sūtra (or Lotus sutra) (妙法蓮華經), which is one of the Buddhist's scriptures. The principles of the writing system for the Korean sound system that Worincheongangjigok (月印千江之曲) adopted, in compared with those of Hunminjeongeum Haeryebon, inherited the original images in developing the writing system for onset consonants. By contrast, some of the nucleus vowels such as ‘ㆍ’ and ‘ㆎ’ maintained the original images, but the rest of them all changed into the letter (⁃ 󰠃), which is shorter than the earlier version of letter (ㆍ). This reflected the advanced development that highlights the practicality of transcription, but it fell short of developing the writing system for the successively pronounced diphthongs such as ‘ㅐ’(ㅏㅣ), ‘ㅒ’(ㅑㅣ), etc., which the proponent for the creation of Hunminjeongeum had intended to. The orthography of this work, compared with that of other contemporary works right after the creation of Hunminjeongeum (訓民正音), display distinctive features in regard to segmentation (分綴), the orthographical representation of coda consonants, the orthographical representation of the compound-forming letter (ㅅ), and the Korean or Chinese orthographical representation of Chinese sounds. In light of the history of the Korean language, these orthographical features are understood both as the then attempt to enhance readability and practical simplification and the best example that shows the hangeul-centered use of letters for the first time in history. Specifically focusing on the orthographical representation of coda consonants, we examined the theory and practice of the stipulation regarding “the dual use of the initial sounds as the final sounds” (終聲復用初聲) in the Yeui part (例義篇) of Hunminjeongeum. This stipulation is expressed with only one sentence, but we showed that it is in fact an ambiguous stipulation not only for forming coda consonants but also for orthographically representing them. From the bibliographical standpoint, we reconstructed the rationales for the publication of the three works such as Seokbosangjeol (釋譜詳節), Worincheongangjigok, and Worinseokbo (月印釋譜). In point of translation, we examined the narrative style of the story about Rāhula's entering the priesthood and that of the Saddharma-puṇḍarīka sūtra (or Lotus sutra) to elucidate the three-way correlation among the original Buddhist sutra relating to Seokbosangjeol, Worincheongangjigok, and the other. It was revealed in this paper that there are the original Buddhist sutra relating to Seokbosangjeol, and Seokbosangjeol itself is Eonhae that resulted from translating and editing the Buddhist scriptures into Jeongeum (正音). It was also found that Worincheongangjigok is the versified Buddhist scriptures that resulted from abridging the Korean translation version of Seokbosangjeol. The examination of the Saddharma-puṇḍarīka sūtra (or Lotus sutra) also unveiled the textual characteristics and status of the works published before or after Worincheongangjigok. The narrative style of the work is composed of sūtra (長行) and geya (重頌). Seokbosangjeol is the sūtra of the Buddhist scriptures that resulted from translating the original Buddhist sutra into Jeongeum (正音). Worincheongangjigok is the versified Buddhist scriptures or geya anthology (重頌集 ) that resulted from abridging the Korean translation version of Seokbosangjeol. This work of such features are of the first kind and thus unique in Korean history. Likewise, Worinseokbo published in 1459, which is a collection of this work and Seokbosangjeol, is regarded as, in Korean history, the first kind of Hunminjeongeum Tripitaka' (訓民正音 大藏經) that was created during the King Sejo (世祖) period.