한・일의 기독교 용어에 관한 연구 - 「God」과 「(Holy) Spirit」의 번역어 「神」 -

Abstract

‘神’, which appears in Psalm 139:7 of the Korean Bible means ‘Spirit’ and differs in the use of the term from the Chinese and Japanese Bibles. In modern Korean, ‘神’ is considered to be a unique Christian term in that it generally means ‘God’. Focusing on this fact, this paper examines the meaning and usage of the word ‘神’ in bilingual dictionaries and Japanese dictionaries dating back to the 1800s when the Korean and Japanese Bibles were translated. I discussed the reason why ‘神’ was adopted from three viewpoints. Research on ‘神’ has been discussed from many perspectives, such as philosophy, religious studies, anthropology, and sociology, in addition to linguistics. However, no research has been carried out that presents linguistic evidence for the unique characteristics of the Christian term which means only the ‘Holy Father’ instead of ‘God’meaning both the ‘Holy Spirit’ and the ‘Holy Father’, as claimed in the present work. This is based on a dictionary study, and it is considered impossible to clarify the meaning and usage of ‘神’ over thousands of years even if extensive research is conducted. However, it is hoped that this will be a basic study for identifying the unique character of ‘神’ used in the Bible (Psalms).