Today in my reading I came across the phrase 불현듯이, which can translate as "suddenly," "all of a sudden," "abruptly," or "unexpectedly," and suddenly (불현듯이) became interested in its origin.
According to Naver's dictionary HERE, the 불 in 불현듯이 means "light," and the 현 comes from the verb 혀다, which is an old spelling of 켜다 ("to light" or "to turn on"), so since 듯이 means "like," the phrase 불현듯이 literally translates as "like a light turning on," and when a light is turned on, a room "suddenly" lights up.
In English we have the phrase "a light bulb goes off (in someone's head)," which means someone has "sudden" understanding of something or has a "sudden" great idea.
Koreans have some interesting names for bugs, The Korean name for a "tiger beetle," for example, is 길앞잡이, which literally means "path (길) guide (앞잡이)." The name supposedly comes from the way it acts when approached. If you get close to it, it will either fly or run away a short distance and stop, and if you continue to follow it, it will do the same thing again and again, as if it is guiding you along your way.
So, 길 means "path" or "road," and 앞 means "forward," but what does 잡이 mean?
I think 잡이 can be translated as "expert."
If you are a "path guide," but not a bug, you are a 길잡이, without the 앞, and 길잡이 can translate as "path (길) expert (잡이)," which literally translates as "a person (이) who grabs (잡다) the path (길)."
Koreans call right-handed people 오른손잡이, which literally translates as "people (이) who grab (잡다) with their right hands (오른손)," and they call left-handed people 왼손잡이, which literally translates as "people (이) who grab (잡다) with their left hands (왼손), And Koreans call people who are ambidextrous and can grab with both hands 양수(兩手)잡이 or 양손잡이, which literally translates as "people (이) who grab (잡다) with 'both hands (양수)."
So, a right-handed person is a right-hand expert, a left-handed person a left-hand expert, and an ambidextrous person a two-handed expert. In English, "dexterous" means "showing or having skill."
By the way, 칼잡이 (a knife expert) is an unflattering name for "a butcher."
My Korean-English dictionary has 12 different entries for the verb 치다, starting with the one that means "to strike" or "to hit," probably the most common meaning. But if the sub-entries are included, the total comes to 19 entries.
I mention this because today I came across the phrase 초친놈 and became curious about the 초친 part of it. I learned that the 초 in 초친 is the same 초 in the Sino-Korean word 식초 (食醋), which means "vinegar." I then guessed from that that the 친 in 초친 comes from 치다 entry No. 6, which means "to (put) pour into," "to mix with," or "to season with."
So, that means the phrase 초친놈 literally translates as "a guy seasoned with vinegar." But what does that mean? Well, my Korean-English dictionary defines the phrase as "a worthless playboy." But how does "a guy seasoned with vinegar" become "a worthless playboy"?
Well, according to my Korean-Korean dictionary, things seasoned with vinegar (such as vegetables) lose their freshness, which implies that people seasoned with vinegar have lost the freshness and innocence they need to be good human beings.
From Dong-A's Prime Korean-English Dictionary (1998)
From Dong-A's Prime Korean-English Dictionary (1998)
From Dong-A's Prime Korean-English Dictionary (1998)
