My dictionary says that 어렵사리 means "매우 어렵게," which means that it is an adverb that translates as "very difficultly" or "very strenuously," but it does not tell me what "사리" means. I can, of course, guess that 사리 means "very" (매우), but why isn't that definition in my dictionary?
My dictionary also says that the word 쉽사리 means "아주 쉽게," which means that it is an adverb that means "very easily" or "quite easily." So, the 사리 in both 쉽사리 and 어렵사리 seems to mean either 매우 or 아주, both of which can translate as "very."
Anyway, why isn't there a definition for -사리 in my dictionary? I suspect it is because scholars are still unsure of the origin of -사리 and are, therefore, not confident enough to list it as a suffix meaning "very," especially since it seems to only be used to make adverbs out of 어렵다 and 쉽다.
So, why do some Koreans prefer to say 어렵사리 and 쉽사리 instead of 매우 어렵게 and 아주 쉽게? I am not sure, but 어렵사리 and 쉽사리 do seem to roll off the tongue much easier than 매우 어렵게 and 아주 쉽게.
By the way, I found it interesting that my dictionary used 매우 with 어렵게 and 아주 with 쉽게 to define 어렵사리 and 쉽사리. I am not sure of the difference between 매우 and 아주, but, for some reason, 아주 쉽게 sounds more natural than 매우 쉽게." I am not sure if 매우 어렵게 sounds more natural than 아주 어렵게, or if there is a difference in meaning, but it makes me wonder what slight difference there might be between 매우 and 아주, something I might write about later.
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