‘강아지풀(莠)’의 어휘사

A Historical Study on the Words with the Meaning of Foxtail

This paper investigates how words referring to ‘foxtail’ have developed diachronically and what kinds of forms they take in modern dialect synchronically. In middle Korean, foxtail was used for the form of ‘랏(<랒),’ which meant pearl millet and barnyard grass as well as foxtail. Therefore, ‘랏’ is supposed to indicate ‘weeds.’ In modern Korean, ‘랏’ was transformed to ‘가랏, 가라지’ and only meant foxtail. Now, ‘가랏, 가라지’ is rarely used. Meanwhile, in the nineteenth century, a new word ‘강아지풀’ was coined to indicate foxtail. In other words, ‘가라지’ was replaced with ‘강아지(풀).’ The replacement is assumed to occur in the following reasons: 1) foxtail resembles ails of puppies in appearance; 2) ‘강아지’ is similar to ‘가라지’ in sounds; and 3) the word ‘강아지’ was used as a noun to refer to willow flowers. As ‘가라지’ is rarely used in Modern Korean, Korean dictionaries have some errors in explaining that ‘가라지’ refers to ‘가라지조.’ Therefore, there needs to be revised for explanation of ‘가라지’ in Korean dictionaries. Dialect of foxtail occurs in the following forms: 1) cases to reflect various dialects meaning puppies and addition of some prefixes to the forms; 2) cases to keep using ‘랏’ and use variations of ‘가라지’; 3) cases to use totally different forms from 1) and 2).

This paper investigates how words referring to ‘foxtail’ have developed diachronically and what kinds of forms they take in modern dialect synchronically. In middle Korean, foxtail was used for the form of ‘랏(<랒),’ which meant pearl millet and barnyard grass as well as foxtail. Therefore, ‘랏’ is supposed to indicate ‘weeds.’ In modern Korean, ‘랏’ was transformed to ‘가랏, 가라지’ and only meant foxtail. Now, ‘가랏, 가라지’ is rarely used. Meanwhile, in the nineteenth century, a new word ‘강아지풀’ was coined to indicate foxtail. In other words, ‘가라지’ was replaced with ‘강아지(풀).’ The replacement is assumed to occur in the following reasons: 1) foxtail resembles ails of puppies in appearance; 2) ‘강아지’ is similar to ‘가라지’ in sounds; and 3) the word ‘강아지’ was used as a noun to refer to willow flowers. As ‘가라지’ is rarely used in Modern Korean, Korean dictionaries have some errors in explaining that ‘가라지’ refers to ‘가라지조.’ Therefore, there needs to be revised for explanation of ‘가라지’ in Korean dictionaries. Dialect of foxtail occurs in the following forms: 1) cases to reflect various dialects meaning puppies and addition of some prefixes to the forms; 2) cases to keep using ‘랏’ and use variations of ‘가라지’; 3) cases to use totally different forms from 1) and 2).