The Sino-Korean word for "umbrella" is 우산 (雨傘), which literally means "rain (雨) umbrella (傘)," A "rain umbrella" (우산) is usually more waterproof (방수성 防水性) than a "sun (양 陽) umbrella (산 傘)," or parasol (양산). So, the Chinese character 傘 (산), by itself, means "umbrella," and the character even kind of looks like an umbrella. The Chinese phrase for "under an umbrella" is 傘下 (산하), which nowadays usually means "under the influence or protection of." For example, 산하기관 (傘下機關) means "an affiliated organization," but literally translates as "an organization under the umbrella [of]." And 산하회사 (傘下會社) means "affiliated companies," but literally translates as "companies under the umbrella [of]."
This morning I was reading a short story about an umbrella when I suddenly started wondering if there was a "pure Korean word" (순우리말) for "umbrella." When I checked my pure-Korean-word dictionary, I found the word 슈룹, which was a word I had never heard used before, though it does appear in my Korean-Korean dictionary with a quote from the Hunminjeongeum Haerye (훈민정음해례 訓民正音解例), which was a supplement to the Hunminjeongeum (훈민정음, 1446) that included examples of Korean words written in the new Korean script. The quote from the ancient document is as follows:
슈룹爲雨繖 -- "A 슈룹 is (爲 위) an umbrella (雨繖 우산)."
The character 繖 (산) also means "umbrella," but is now less frequently used than 傘 (산).
Anyway, what follows is the umbrella story I was reading. It is supposedly a fairly well-known story in Korea about a particular 청백리 (淸白吏), which was a title given to "clean-handed government officials" during the Yi Dynasty. The character 淸 (청) means "clear" and 白 (백) means "white" or "clean," so 청백 literally translates as "clear (淸) and clean (白)" but together can translate as "uprightness," "honest," "clean," or "incorruptible." The character 吏 (리) means "officer" or "official." The "clean-handed official" in this story was Yu Gwan (유관 柳寬), who lived from 1346 to 1433. The story comes from a text entitled "靑坡劇談 (청파극담), which was written by Cheong Pa Lee Yuk (청파 이육 靑坡李陸) sometime before 1512, when it was first compiled by the writer's son. Cheong Pa (청파 靑坡) was the penname of Lee Yuk (이육 李陸), who lived from 1438 to 1498. The word 극담 (劇談) can translate as "light-hearted stories," so 청파극담 can translate as "The Lighthearted Stories of Jeongpa."
Prime Minister Yu Gwan (柳政丞寬 유정승관) was pure (淸 청) and poor (貧 빈), yet was self-reliant (自守). Once (嘗 상) a big (大 대) rain (雨 우) continued (經 경) [for] a month (月 월), [and his] house (屋 옥) was leaking (漏 루) like (如 여) hemp (麻 마).
Yu Gwan (寬 관) [was sitting in his house] holding (手 수) an umbrella (傘 산), sheltering (庇 비) from the rain (雨 우), [when he] looked back (顧 고) and said to (謂 위) [his] wife (夫人 부인), quote (曰 왈), "[In] a house without umbrellas (無傘之家 무산지가), how (何以 하이) can (能 능) [they] endure (堪 감)?"
His wife (夫人 부인) said (曰 왈), "Those without umbrellas (無傘者 무산자) must (必 필) have (有 유) prevention (備 비).
Yu Gwan (寬 관) smiled (笑 소) at her (之 지).I assume the "prevention" the wife was talking about was "a roof that doesn't leak." In other words, the wife seems to be referring to the expression 유비무환 (有備無患), which literally translates as, "[If] there is (有) preparedness (備), there is no (無) anxiety or disaster (患)," an expression that often translates into English as "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."
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