What does 묏자리 mean?

ANSWER: grave site 

뫼 is the pure Korean word for grave, and 자리 is the pure Korean word for a site, so together the two pure Korean words form the word 묏자리, which means a grave site. Do not confuse 뫼 with 묘(墓), which is the Sino-Korean word for grave. The Sino-Korean equivalent of 묏자리 would be 묘소 (墓所) or 산소 (山所). 묘소 is the more polite form of 산소.

The video below tells the folktale of a family who wanted to set up a grave site on their family's private mountain. Koreans traditionally like to bury their loved ones on the sunny sides of mountains. However, besides a mountain, this family also had a boggy pool of water on their land which would always reflect on the surface of the water the places on the mountain the family wanted to use as possible grave sites. A reflection of a grave site on water apparently violated a rule of Korean geomancy, which is a method of divination that is used to find good sites to build on. The belief is that it would be bad luck to build on a wrong site.

The boggy pool of water on the Shin family land prevented the family from setting up a grave site on their mountain, so the family considered the water to be their enemy and started calling the body of water 웬수물, which means enemy (웬수) water (물). 웬수 is a dialectal version of 원수 (怨讐), which is a Sino-Korean word for enemy.

“웬수물 설화” “The Tale of the Enemy Water” 

옛날 옛적 고척동에는 커다란 웅덩이가 있었어요. 이 웅덩이는 산수가 아주 빼어난 신씨네의 산에 있었답니다. 신씨는 산수가 빼어난 이곳을 묏자리로 쓰고 싶었어요. 

Once upon a time in Gocheok-dong, there was a large boggy pool of water. This pool of water was near the Shin family mountain, which was quite scenic. Because the place was so scenic, the Shin family wanted to use it for a grave site. 

그런데 이 산에 묏자리를 잡으려고 할 때마다 웅덩이에 자꾸 산이 비쳐 자리를 잡기가 어려웠어요. 결국 이 산에 묏자리를 쓰지 못 하게 된 신씨는 이 호 웅덩이를 웬수물이라고 부르기 시작했답니다. 

However, each time the family tried to set up a grave site on the mountain, it would always be reflected on the boggy pool of water, making it difficult to find a site. In the end, the mountain could not be used for a grave site, so it is said the Shin family started calling their boggy pool of water "enemy water."