The word 구닥다리 means the same thing as 구년묵이, so what does 구년묵이 mean?
구년 (舊年) is a Sino-Korean word that literally means "old (舊) year (年)" or "old years," which can translate as "the past." And 묵이 is a pure Korean word that means "an old thing (matter)" or "old stuff," so 구년묵이 can translate as "old stuff from the past," which is somewhat redundant.
By the way, the 묵 in 묵이 comes from the pure Korean verb 묵다, which means "to get old" or "to get stale," and the 이 is a pure Korean suffix that when attached to verb stems turns them into nouns.
But the main purpose of this post is to ask about the origin of 구닥다리, which supposedly means the same thing as 구년묵이. Naver's online dictionary translates 구닥다리 as "outdated," "old-fashioned," or "obsolete." But a book I have says that 구닥다리, even though it is a more popular word than 구년묵이, is a nonstandard word that should be replaced with 구년묵이. But my book does not give the origin of 구닥다리 or explain why it is a nonstandard word, and I have been unable to find any information on its origin.
The 구 in 구닥다리 is probably the Chinese character for "old" (舊 구), but what does 닥다리 mean? 닭다리 (chicken leg)?
I do not speak Japanese, but 구닥다리 sounds Japanese to me. If it is an old Japanese word adopted by Koreans, then that would explain why Koreans consider it to be nonstandard. Does anyone know the origin of 구닥다리?
By the way, 노닥다리 means 늙다리 (old legs), which is an impolite way to refer to old people.
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| From the book "뜻도 모르고 자주 쓰는 우리말 사전" |
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| From "Dong-A's Prime Korean-English Dictionary" (1998) |
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| From "Dong-A's Prime Korean-English Dictionary" (1998) |
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| From "Dong-A's Prime Korean-English Dictionary" (1998) |
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