장어(長魚) 이름의 어휘사 - 한자어 이름을 중심으로

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the change in the meaning of eel from the Chinese character ‘鰻鱺’ to the current ‘長魚’ through synchronic consideration of the name of the eel, and to examine the reason why it was named ‘長魚’ rather than ‘鰻鱺’ and how it was used as a generic name for the type of 長魚 in the current standard language. Furthermore, we tried to estimate the phenomenon of language and cultural implications of Korea, China, and Japan through various names of 長魚. As a result, the Chinese character ‘long-bodied fish’ of 長魚 is literally a generic term for ‘long-bodied fish’, and at first, it was not only a generic term for 鰻鱺, but a 俗名 of ‘海鰻鱺’ belonging to the subcategory of 長魚. In the 15th and 19th centuries, the word was called ‘鰻鱺魚’ at least until the late Joseon Dynasty, and since then, all species (種) belonging to the order of 長魚 or fish with a long shape have been referred to as ‘eels’. It was found that the reason why 長魚 became the top word in the standard language was also related to the similarity of shapes, various nickname of eels, and the phenomenon of ‘multi-lingual, homonym, and diverticulum’ of Chinese characters used in eel names. In addition, through the names made up of various nickname and Chinese characters of the 長魚, we were able to examine the ecological habits and characteristics of the eel, as well as the linguistic interpretation methods, differences in written notation, and the symbolism and cultural implications of the 長魚.