벌나(平那平壤)와 아사달(阿斯達九月山)에 대하여

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to discuss a variety of issues regarding the old name of Pyongyang (Beolna) and Kuwolsan (Asadal). To do this, I intend to examine those issues at every level. The findings investigated in this paper are as follows. First, there is a reasonable chance that the original place of Pyongyang around Toseong-ri, Taedonggang-myeon, Taedong-gun, Pyongyang-si because inside the earth enram parts of Toseong-ri a governing territory of Nakrang commandery. In addition, their ancient tombs as well as lots of historical remains are scattered there. Describing its location more specifically, it is Taedonggang-myeon, Toseong-ri, Beolgol including Pyeongcheon-ri, Gwanbeoljeong, Oya-ri and others. The original character of 平 (Pyeong) ‘Beol’, is contained in the names of those places, among which Pyeongcheon-ri is translated into Chinese characters as Pyeongcheon. The first case of the Chinese translation is Pyeongna into Pyongyang. Furthermore, the word 'Pyongyang' in Pyeongyanggang, located in the southwest of Pyongyang, might be its remaining name. Second, it is assumed that the first capital of the Dangun Joseon could have been Asadal (Kuwolsan). This is because the meanings of Asadal and Joseon are similar, but the meanings of Joseon and Pyongyang are not. Besides, due to the fact that the nicknames of Asadal are closely related to Joseon, but those of Pyongyang are not, I cannot support the theory that Pyongyang was the first capital. There are also many remaining sites appearing in the myth of Dangun in Asadal, but, in Pyongyang, there are not. This supports the theory that Asadal was the first capital. That is why I believe the possibility that the capital might have been relocated from Beolna (Pyeongna) to Pyongyang . If this is not true, Asadal must have been as prosperous as Pyongyang was because the former was the capital for generation after generation. However, Asadal is just the first tentative capital in the myth, and there only remains the legendary vestige that became a shabby famous mountain. Third, the earlier name of Pyongyang is Pyeongna (Beolna) or Pyeongju (Beolgol)., the word, Pyeongna, seems to have been used as an original place name before the time of the Four Commanderies of Han (B.C.108). Pyongyang was marked as Pyeongna and called ‘Beolna’ during the Goguryeo dynasty. In the language used in Goguryeo, Pyeong was Beol, and Na was Yang meaning land, which was translated into Chinese characters. Pyeongju, another name of Pyeongna, is Beolgol. Accordingly, Pyeongna, Pyeongju, Pyeongcheon, and Yugyeong, which were translated into Chinese characters, are all variants of ‘Beolna’. Finally, likewise another name of Wolseong is Jaeseong, that of Pyeongyangseong is also Jaeseong. The vernacular of the early Goryeo of ‘Jae’ is ‘Gyeon (畎)’ and that of Yidu character is correctly ‘Gyeon (在)’. On the basis of archaic word references in which ‘Jae’ (在) is found as a borrowed character of ‘Gyeo-’, I intend to argue that the meaning of Jaeseong is ‘a castle in which a king lived’ (在城), not ‘a castle on the mountaintop’ (嶺城).