19세기 『학봉종가 한글편지』에 나타난 질병 관련 어휘에 관한 고찰

Abstract

This paper aims to examine the disease-related vocabulary of Hakbongjongga Hangeul letters in the 19th century, and identify its characteristics in terms of lexical history and life history. Hakbongjongga Hangeul letters shows regional and colloquial features as well as typical features of the 19th century language. It is also an important resource in the study of life history because it shows various daily lives. In terms of the study on lexical history, the disease-related vocabulary of Hakbongjongga Hangeul letters shows a strong tendency to use Sino-Korean words rather than Native Korean words. As the replacement of Native Korean words with Sino-Korean words is a general change from Medieval Korean to Modern Korean, we can see that the disease-related vocabulary of the 19th century also followed that main stream. In addition, Hakbongjongga Hangeul letters shows dialect forms for some disease words, which cannot be found in other literal materials. In terms of the study on life history, through the words ‘pi-u(피우)’ and ‘jongdu(죵두)’, it can be examined for ways to prevent infectious diseases in the first half of the 19th century, in North Gyeongsang Province. The word ‘피우’ shows that there was a custom to evacuate people to another area to prevent the epidemic, especially smallpox and measles. In addition, the word ‘죵두’ shows that it was common to get inoculation against smallpox at that time. However, it should be noted that the inoculation was variolation(人痘法), an old method of immunizing individuals against smallpox by infecting them with substance from patients.