What does 사시장철 (四時長철) mean?

 ANSWER:  a year-long season?

The following is the first sentence in the short story "The Last King" (마지막 임금님), by Park Wan-suh (박완서):

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"옛날에 사시장철 춥지도 더웁지도 않게 날씨 좋고 땅은 기름진 고장에 작고 아름다운 나라가 있었습니다."

"A long time ago (옛날에), there was a small beautiful country (작고 아름다운 나라가 있었습니다) in a region where the land was fertile (땅은 기름진 고장에) and the weather was good (날씨 좋고), with a year-long season that was neither cold nor hot (사시장철 춥지도 더웁지도 않게)."

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The above sentence is a good example of one of the big differences between English and Korean.

In English, we tend to name something before describing it, which Koreans sometimes find boring. Koreans, on the other hand, seem to like keeping you in suspense about what is being described until the end of the sentence, Sherlock-Holmes style, which some Americans (including me) sometimes find confusing.

The Chinese character 時 (시) means "time," but it can also mean "season." So, since the character 四 (사) means "four," 사시 (四時) can mean either "4 o'clock" or "the four seasons," but Koreans usually use it to mean "the four seasons" since they say, instead, "네 시" for "4 o'clock."

The Chinese character 長 (장) means "long" or "a long time," so the phrase 사시장 (四時長), literally means "four (四) seasons (時) long (長)," which can translate as "all year long."

So, since 靑 (청) means "green," the word 사시장청 (四時長靑) can translate as "evergreen." And since 春 (춘) means "spring," the word 사시장춘 (四時長春) can translate as "everlasting spring."

But what does 사시장철 (四時長철) mean?

철 is the pure-Korean word for "season," so 사시장철 (四時長철) literally means "year-long (四時長) season (철)."

From "국어시간에 소설읽기 1"

From Dong-A's Prime Korean-English Dictionary (1998)