魏志倭人傳에 보이는 ‘喩母字’에 관한 고찰- 爲, 越, 已를 중심으로 표기의 관점에서 -

Abstract

There are articles about Japan, such as Japan’s geography and customs around the end of the 3rd century, written in the Gisiwajinden. In addition, proper nouns, such as the names of countries and people in Japan, are written in phonetic notation. In this paper, among the characters ‘喩’ used as proper nouns of these Wajinden, I studied from the point of view of transcription, focusing on 爲, 越, and 已, which have different phonetic values even though they are the same character in Japanese and ancient Japanese materials. The characters ‘喩’ that can be confirmed in the Wajinden were 喩3(匣) and 喩4(余). The difference between the 3等 and the 4等 is the degree of opening due to the difference in the Medial sound. Compared to the 4等, the 3等 expresses more lip-rounding. 爲 and 越, which are the same 喩3等, represent the sound value of [o]․[wi], [o]․[wo], respectively, in Wajinden and ancient Japanese materials. On the other hand, 已, which is 喩4 series, represents syllables [i]․[i] in Wajinden and ancient Japanese materials, respectively (however, Suikokiibun; data earlier than KiKiManyou, indicates the syllable of [jö]). Corresponding relationships were confirmed through the use of 反切 in Rhyme Dictionary, presumed Old Chinese, ancient Korean and Japanese materials, and Buddhist scriptures. Through these considerations, I estimated the sound values of 爲, 越, and 已 shown in the Wajinden as [wi, wo, jö].