Friday, May 21, 2021

How do you say "time capsule" in Korean?

 ANSWER: 타임캡슐

Today I read a fairly interesting essay in a book written by 천소영 entitled 우리말의 속살. The title of the essay was "부끄러움이 자랑스러움으로." I read the essay because it mentioned another Korean book I have entitled 흙 속에 저 바람 속에, by 이어령.

The article talks about how the Korean language has been overshadowed by other languages, first by the Chinese language, then by the Japanese language, and now by English and other European languages. The author mentions, for example, how almost all Koreans can sing the Korean folk song "아리랑," but none of them seem to know, for sure, what 아리랑 means. Why is that? The author believes that it is because Koreans are so focused on studying foreign languages that they do not have enough time or motivation to research their own language.

In the article, the author also mentions the time capsule that Koreans buried to commemorate the 600-year anniversary of the establishment of Korea's capital city Seoul. The time capsule is supposed to be opened in about 400 years, on Seoul's 1000-year anniversary. The author seemed to think it ironic that a time capsule meant to preserve the culture and history of Korea had written on it the foreign loanword "탐임캡슐" (time capsule) instead of a pure-Korean word.

Does the Korean language not have pure Korean words for "time" and "capsule"? Why can't Koreans come up with a pure-Korean word for "time capsule," maybe one that includes the pure Koreans words for "season" (철) and "egg" (알)?


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