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COREAN.
"COREA is a peninsula of
Eastern Asia, separated from Mantchou
Tartary by a lofty chain of mountains.
Its area, inclusive of the islands near its shores, has been estimated at
80,000 square miles: its amount
of population is uncertain, but does not probably exceed 2,000,000.
The government is a despotic
monarchy, and the country is tributary to
China, and perhaps to Japan: the religious systems of
B_ddha
and of Confucius have
each their respective adherents.
The language, being destitute of inflexions indicative of gender
and number, and forming its
cases by means of suffixes, is analogous in its main features to the
Tartarian class. It is also
strikingly
similar to Japanese. Many
Chinese words enter into its composition, for Corea has received its civilisa-
tion and its literature from China, and the Chinese language is sedulously
cultivated by all ranks as the
principal learned and literary medium, and the only avenue to political
distinction. Composite words
are of very frequent occurrence in Corean, the first syllable consisting of
the native word, and the
second of the Chinese synonym pronounced in the Corean manner. This
arrangement renders the
language extremely verbose, but its sounds are by no means disagreeable to
the ear of a foreigner, the
pronunciation being clear, full, and sonorous. In writing, the Coreans
use syllabic characters similar in
theory to the Japanese Katagana system, but suited to the peculiar
articulations of their own language.
These characters are placed in vertical columns, as in Chinese and Japanese,
and when written, they
are so grouped together as to form in appearance figures similar in many
respects to Chinese characters.
In 1832, the shores of Corea were visited by
Dr. Gutzlaff, who distributed portions of the Chinese
Scriptures among the inhabitants, and caused a copy of the entire
Chinese version to be conveyed to
the monarch. A translation of the
Gospel of St.
Matthew into Corean has been
effected by a Baptist
my., and the Psalms have been translated by Dr. Schmidt; but these
translations are still in MS.,
and their critical merits have not been ascertained. There is at
present no possibility of introducing
the light of Divine truth into Corea: foreigners are zealously excluded from
the country, and Europeans
are seldom permitted even to land on its shores. It may be expected,
however, that the altered political
relations between the Chinese government and the various nations of the
civilised world, consequent
upon recent events, will ere long afford an opening for the entrance of the
Word of Truth into this as
well as other portions of the vast and hitherto benighted empire of
China."--The Bible of Every Land. (1860, Second Edition) Samuel
Bagster [Info only]
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