울릉도 마을지명의 형성과 고착과정

Abstract

Geographical names in Ulleungdo used to be confined to what the inspector had named for the surrounding islands, mountains and streams. However, the number of village names began to rise as the number of people entering the island increased in the modern period. Literature where place names are recorded show errors as the authors wrote as what they heard. This problem is particularly severe when it comes to the names recorded by Japanese who had few understanding of Korean dialect. There are several causes of the misrepresentation of the place names. First, when a place name was written by transcribing the sound or the meaning, the result could vary per person who recorded the name. Second, the recorder could be confused by misunderstanding the meaning of the place name or due to similar pronunciation. That is why the current place names show many errors. Further, the failure of the Japanese to understand Korean dialects aggravated this error. Third, for record purposes or for administrative convenience, the number of characters was reduced or two names were merged together. Fourth, some names were changed from Korean to Chinese characters. Fifth, there were cases where the Japanese replaced Korean names with Japanese names, which resulted in altered meaning of the place name. Ulleungdo had been frequently visited by Japanese people even before it was pioneered, thus the geographical names of the island reflect the influence of the Japanese. The Japanese influence is very significant on the background to the names that have been incorrectly transferred or the names that carry different meaning. The names that had been misrepresented by Koreans settled down as the island went through the Japanese colonial period, and after the liberation, the names have been followed by Koreans to the present day. Also, there are names newly designated after the liberation. However, some of the place names from the Joseon Dynasty were developed by the Japanese, while some of the geographical names from the Japanese colonial period could be an extension of the names used in the Joseon Dynasty. Therefore, it is difficult to simply classify them into place names from Joseon and from the Japanese colonial period based upon the year of formation. As the errors of the place names in Ulleungdo have been revealed now, information currently available online should be corrected immediately and reflected in the forthcoming Ulleunggunji (The geography of Ulleung-gun).