몽골의 한국(솔롱고스) 호칭 유래 고찰

A Study on the Origin of the Name of Korea(Solongos) in Mongolia

In Mongolia, when writing the country name of Korea, it uses “Solongos(Солонг ос)” instead of the English name “Republic of Korea”. As for the reason, many Koreans and Mongolians believe that it is related to the meaning of ‘the country of the rainbow’. However, this is one hypothesis that lacks historical basis. In Mongolian and non-Mongolian literature, a vocabulary similar to Solongos appears as a name for today's Korea. In addition, we also see ‘γauli’, ‘Caule’, which is the Chinese character transcription of Goryeo(高麗). Of these, ‘γauli’, ‘Caule’ can be regarded as today's Korea without any problems. However, the vocabulary similar to that of Solongos is not. The vocabulary similar to Solongos was used as a term to referred to Merkid in the early days of Chinggis Khan, then to the Later Liao(後遼) forces. And this vocabulary was changed to a title calling Goryeo again. In other words, the concept of the vocabulary similar to Solongos gradually expanded. After returning to the Mongolian Plateau, the concept of this vocabulary was narrowed down to refer to a certain tribe within Mongolia. After a certain period of time, the concept was expanded and used as a vocabulary referring to ‘Joseon’, and it continues to this day. In conclusion, the vocabulary similar to Solongos is form in which a plural suffix is added to the root ‘sol-’, meaning ‘left’ in the Altaic language family. It was used as to refer to hostile forces to the left of the Mongols.