베트남 쯔놈(Chu Nom: 字喃)과 베트남에서 쯔놈 문헌의 보관과 연구

Abstract

Like Korea and Japan, Vietnam was influenced by Chinese culture through centuries of interchange and used chu Han(Chinese letters) for a long time. Chu Han were introduced into Vietnam at the very early time―it seems to be Before Common Era. During the period of being directly ruled by Chinese people(the first to tenth centuries), the use of chu Han continued to grow. On the foundation of chu Han, chu Nom was created. They went on progressing, being used in Vietnamese's cultural life. Many Vietnamese dynasties laid stress on chu Han and regarded them as the nation's legitimate letters, while chu Nom progressed in the literature―especially folk literature. The fact that chu Nom was created had very great significance. It meant the development of Vietnam's national culture and Vietnamese's sense of self-respect, and confirmed the status and the role of the Vietnamese language. There are different theories on the birth of chu Nom among researchers who studied deep into it. From Ly Dynasty(1010-1225), there have been epitaphs on which persons' and regions' names was carved in chu Nom. The creation of chu Nom met the desire of the independence, autonomy and unification of Dai Viet(ancient Vietnam) and the need of the development of Vietnam's national culture. In the Tran Dynasty(1225-1400), chu Nom prevailed and used in the field of studies. Writings in chu Nom assumed to be those of the Tran Dynasty are still preserved in Vietnam. In the Later Le Dynasty(15th century), Dai Viet's culture reflected flourishing national spirit. In the course of historical progress, writings in chu Nom of that time obtained some good results. Ancient Vietnamese dynasties sometimes flourished and sometimes declined, but Vietnamese culture, including chu Nom writing, kept progressing. Many chu Nom writings express thoughts and ideas beyond ancient dynasties' orthodox moral. With regard to the structure of chu Nom, Vietnamese researchers agree to several types: (1) types borrowed from chu Han(one borrowing both sound and meaning; the other borrowing either sound or meaning); (2) types created by Vietnamese(one combining two elements of chu Han; the other adding to or simplifying chu Han). Today chu Nom books and chu Nom literary heritages which are preserved at the Institute of Han-Nom total up to 1600. Since the 20th century, Vietnamese have used the Roman alphabet. As a result, today's Vietnamese don't understand many written cultural heritages because they don't know their ancestors' letters―chu Nom. This is why studies of Han-Nom began. Chu Nom have been studied and chu Nom writings have been translated since the early 20th century.