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Korean Proverbs

속담(Sok-dam, Korean proverb) is a concise idiom that describes a fact in a metaphorical way for instruction or satire. The term “속담(Sok-dam, Korean proverb)” was first used in Korea in the middle of the Joseon Dynasty, such as “어우야담(於于野譚, Eo-u-ya-dam)” and “동문유해(同文類解, Dong-mun-yu-hae)”, but the fact that the proverb was actually used is much earlier than that. Considering that there is an example of ‘I am busy with my work, and I am in a hurry for my family' in the article titled "욱면비염불서승(郁面婢念佛西昇, Uk myeon biyeombulseoseung)" in Volume 5 of "삼국유사(三國遺事, Samguk yusa)", many proverbs were already common in the Three Kingdoms period.

Occurrence and settlement

In general, the 속담(Sok-dam, Korean proverb) reflects the pre-modern lifestyle and way of thinking, so it can be mistaken for being created in the past and not being created in the present. Of course, from the present point of view, it is not a big mistake to say that the proverb made in the present does not exist. Because it hasn't settled yet. However, it may not be settled as a fixed phrase, or citations by the public language may be rare and the range of empathy may not be wide. However, phrases with the potential to become proverbs have the characteristics of vogue phrases and are clearly present.

For example, in a proverb that occurred in the early 20th century and now fully settled, there is something like “doctors and lawyers are thieves from the country", and there is a proverb like this, "Half the matchmaking, half the love”, meaning an event contains half of self will and others' will.

Occurrence

The occurrence of 속담(Sok-dam, Korean proverb) can be thought of in two cases. One is the case that is formed from the description of a specific historical case. The other is sometimes formed from descriptions of common cases that occur frequently in everyday life.

Many proverbs are made from descriptions of common cases. However, since it can also be interpreted as a recurring special case, it is not fundamentally irrelevant to a specific historical case. As can be seen in the example below, the names of historical figures or literary works, as well as the names of regions or departments that inform historical facts, appear in the proverb. The reason is that expressions containing such proper nouns are already understood as meanings representing certain general characteristics to the language masses. Below are examples of proverbs that contain proper nouns.

• 황정승(黃政丞)네 치마 하나 세 모녀가 돌려 입듯
• 춥기는 사명당(四溟堂)의 사첫방이라
• 한상국(韓相國)의 농사짓기
• 고수관(高守寬)의 딴전피기
• 변학도(卞學道) 잔치에 이도령(李道令)의 밥상
• 운봉(雲峰)이 내 마음을 알지
• 조자룡(趙子龍)이 헌 칼 쓰듯
• 장비(張飛)는 만나면 싸움
• 송도(松都) 말년(末年)에 불가살이
• 양천현감(楊川縣監) 죽은 말 지키듯
• 아산(牙山)이 깨어지나 평택(平澤)이 무너지나
• 평양감사(平壤監司)도 저 싫으면 그만

Settlement

In order for an expression to become a proverb, it must go through several steps. First of all, the proverb comes from the remarks of an individual's parable.

It may come from the clever idea that we had in our mind from the beginning, or it may just come from the process of describing and narrating an event by chance. However, when the phrase of the parable is reapplied to a new case, the phrase cannot be settled as a proverb unless the public who understands it does not feel great sympathy for the appropriateness of the description by feeling wonder and pleasure.

Also, even if it is sympathetic, there is still room for the phrase to be refined. In addition, it must have a universal meaning that will be cited over and over again. In other words, when it is repeatedly cited by the language public who feels sympathy while being refined more than when it was first used, it qualifies as a proverb and settles in the linguistic society. This process can be summarized in the following five steps.

5 Steps to Proverb Generation and Settlement

Stage 1	Stage 2	Stage 3	Stage 4	Stage 5
Occurrence of special cases	Description of the case	Refinement of the description	Empathy and re-quoting of the language public	Immobilization and propagation of phrases

What can be confirmed through these five steps is that the proverb starts from personal, colloquial, and special things, but later it comes down to social, written, and general, and eventually reveals the true face of the linguistic society. For this reason, the proverb sometimes wears partial changes during the settlement process, and sometimes turns into a wacky meaning.

Structure

The external structure of the proverb is divided into two types, the short type and the long type. The short form is usually a phrase representing a complex concept or is a short sentence, and the long form is in the middle sentence or complex sentence.

There are prosodic and syntactic harmony in the characteristics that can be found in the external structure of this proverb. Prosodic harmony is achieved in two ways: 압운(Ab-woon, 押韻, Rhyme) and 율격(Yul-gyeok, 律格, Rhythm).

Prosodic

Rhyme

압운(Ab-woon, 押韻, Rhyme) means that the same rhyme of a syllable with similar pronunciation is regularly entered in a certain place of a practice in a poem. 두운(Du-woon, 頭韻), 각운(gak-woon, 脚韻) or word repetition is used here. 두운(Du-woon, 頭韻) is the rhyme that enters at the beginning of the line, 각운(gak-woon, 脚韻) is the rhyme that goes into the end of the line.

• 신첨지 신꼴을 보겠다
• 지게 지고 제사 지내도 다 제멋
• 물어도 준치, 썩어도 생치
• 소는 소힘, 새는 새힘
• 가는 날이 장 날
• 꿩 먹고, 알 먹고·
• 아이 치레, 송장 치레
• 바람 부는 대로, 물결 치는 대로
• 염불도 몫몫, 쇠뿔도 각각

Rhythm

율격(Yul-gyeok, 律格, Rhythm) found in 속담(Sok-dam, Korean proverb) shows two foots with a length of four syllables as one foots and four foots, which are double, like the basic rules of Korean traditional poetry. The following are typical examples.

• 공든 탑이 무너지랴.
• 무른 땅에 말뚝 박기
• 병신 자식 효도 본다.

Syntactic

속담(Sok-dam, Proverbs) that show syntactic harmony are all proverbs of long sentences. Numerically, it is only around 10% of the total 속담(Sok-dam, Proverbs), but it gives a strong impression that the sense of structural stability is the standard form of the proverb. The following are examples of syntactic harmony through the codification method.

• 가루는 칠수록 고와지고, 말은 할수록 거칠어진다.
• 낮말은 새가 듣고, 밤말은 쥐가 듣는다.
• 좋은 일에는 남이요, 궂은 일에는 일가라.
• 꿀 먹은 벙어리요, 침 먹은 지네라.
• 불 없는 화로, 딸 없는 사위
• 내리사랑은 있어도, 치사랑은 없다.
• 가는 말이 고와야, 오는 말이 곱다.
• 윗물이 맑아야, 아랫물이 맑다.
• 입은 거지는 먹어도, 벗은 거지는 못 먹는다.

Types of Forms in Literature

The literary form of the proverb is divided into a poetic proverb and a narrative proverb.

Poetic

First of all, when looking at poetic proverbs, many Korean proverbs take a concise word form consisting of one line or two phrases and one line format. Analyzing the proverb, 8 syllables are the most, followed by 9 syllables and 7 syllables, and they are usually stable within 10 syllables. Eight syllables are 4·4 율격(Yul-gyeok, 律格, Rhythm) in letter count and 2 foots of 율격(Yul-gyeok, 律格, Rhythm) in foot count. They have a strong consciousness to take a symmetry in form. Since there is a high risk of losing the meaning of survival of an unformed proverb, it is always willing to exist in a fixed frame. In addition to the 4·4 letters, 3·4 letters, 5·5 letters, 6·5 letters, 6·6 letters, 7·5 letters are used.

Rhythm in letter count

Proverbs seek to simplify refined language in form, but some are as long as 58 syllables.

• 동무 따라 강남 간다. (4·4 letters)
• 자는 범 군침 주기. (3·4 letters)
• 금일 충청도 명일 경상도. (5·5 letters)
• 구더기 무서워 장 못 담글까. (6·5 letters)
• 토끼 죽으니 여우 슬퍼한다. (6·6 letters)
• 빚 보증하는 자식 낳지도 마라. (7·5 letters)

• 백년이 잠깐이요 만세(萬世)도 바쁜 것이요, 백이숙제(伯夷叔齊)와 도척(盜跖)이 양(羊)을 잃기는 마찬가지이니 당장에 한번 취하여 시비(是非)를 도무지 잊어버리니만 못하다.

Rhythm in foot count

There are many single foots, but two foots are dominant. Some are taking four foots.

• 안성 맞춤/안장 맞춤
• 아동 판수/육갑 외듯

• 이마에 부은 물이/발뒤꿈치로 흐른다

Proverbial folk song

The proverbial folk song has not been developed very much, but it is inserted into the folk song and sometimes takes the form of folk song.

님아 님아 우리 님아 이제 가면 언제 올래 동솥에 삶은 밤이꼭꼬 울면 다시 올래 고목나무 새싹 돋아 꽃이 피면 다시 올래

Narrative

Sometimes in simple proverbs there is a narrative type of proverb that contains the content of the story. The content of the narrative in the proverb is divided into those of 'the story first, then the proverb' and those of 'the proverb first, the the story'.

The story first, then the proverb

An example of this is the proverb related to 'Chun-cheon Civil Engineer (춘천 토목공)'. This story is about a person who knows only one and has no change.

Once upon a time, a villager loved his daughter very much. So, when choosing a son-in-law, he put fifty-five-du (du, a traditional Korean rice measuring unit) in a box made of new-skewers. “If anyone can guess the name of this tree and the amount of rice in it, I will make him son-in-law.” Then, his daughter secretly informed a fool merchant to respond. After that, the first greeting that the son-in-law would be called to meet was said to be “fifty-five two rice in old-skewer box”.

The proverb first, the the story

An example of this is the proverb, "I have lost everything, 'Gae' and 'Gu-ruk'". As Jo Jae-sam (조재삼, 趙在三), who wrote '송남잡지(Songnam-Zapzi)' says, ‘Gu-ruk’ has the meaning of ‘net’, so it is nothing more than some person matched with a vague story. This is probably a proverb that occurred because of frequent incidents and circumstances in which a fisherman went to catch 'gae(게, crabs)' and was unable to catch 'gae(게, crabs)' due to storms, and even the net was lost.

According to the "송남잡지(Songnam-Zapzi)'', in a story that has been handed down in the country, there was a very close friend to a man named 'gae(게, crabs)' in the past, and the friend's name was ‘Gu-ruk’. However, the 'gae(게, crabs)''s wife coveted the beauty of subjugation and poisoned her husband in order to live with her. Then he said, "There is a saying that the man will give his life for those who know me, so I also committed suicide, saying that I would die with my friend." Eventually, the solemn man lost both his husband and his contempt.

Effect

The effect of the proverb works in two main ways. The first is the function of edification, and the second is the function of satire.

Edification

For example, the proverb 'It's dark under the base of a lamp' is interpreted as a basic meaning with generality, such as 'don't know what's nearby' or 'the truth (or secret) is hidden nearby'. This basic meaning can again be an euphemism of a command, instruction, or warning, depending on the circumstances in which the proverb is used. So, in the end, the implications of ‘look back at yourself’ or ‘be careful with people close to you’ are reflected, thereby performing the function of edification. In this case, the proverb, It's dark under the base of a lamp agrees with the proverb “Know yourself” and the function of edification.

Satire

On the other hand, in situations where the basic meaning of the proverb cannot be used as a means of edification, it is transformed into booing or satire. Consider the proverb, ‘There is no dinner in the twelve skills.’ . This proverb is interpreted as the basic meaning of 'various abilities do not necessarily become practical means of life.' If this proverb is used as a warning that children who are not interested in making money and are keen on various hobbies, they should not be too indulged, they will perform the function of edification. On the other hand, when a friend with a reputation for being versatile asks to borrow money, it would be a highly sarcastic expression if he was sent back and applied the proverb to someone else who knew him well. Proverbs in the form of a half sentence, such as ‘Will your one hand clap?’ and 'Chimney which does not make fire will smoke come from?' are more often used as a satirical function.

Folk characteristics

By observing the vocabulary that makes up the proverb and the basic meaning of the proverb, we can find the consciousness structure of Korean ancestors and various aspects of life in terms of folklore. There are a few things you can easily check:

Uncouthness and Dailiness

It is no exaggeration to say that the non-attributes of a proverb are the very essence of the proverb. It is closely related to the non-attribute of consciousness of common people. Therefore, it seems that the yangban of the Joseon Dynasty, who placed importance on gentleness, did not use the proverb as it was in Korean, although they would use the proverb in the same form as the ancient idioms of Chinese characters.

For example, in Lee Eui-bong's ≪Donghan translation 東韓譯語≫, 106 kinds of Korean proverbs are collected, and 66 of them have been converted into four characters idioms. In fact, it is presumed that the Yangban class used it in the form of this idiom. This is because even the most crude expressions can be reduced to some extent by replacing them with Chinese characters.

Words that appear particularly frequently in Korean proverbs are dog, poop, water, cow, house, person, rice, word [言語], foot [足], and tteok. The fact that 'dog' and 'poop' are the most frequent of these ten words clearly proves the non-attribute of the proverb.

On the other hand, if the meanings of these words are categorized, it can be summarized into seven categories: livestock, nature, residential, humanity, food, language, and body. It is presumed that these seven fields were the daily interests of Korean ancestors.

Timely and Convenience

In fact, proverbs are more often used to rationalize themselves on an ad-hoc basis in everyday life, rather than expressing universal truth. Therefore, when two proverbs are compared side-by-side, they sometimes show opposite basic meanings or connotations. Like this, the meaning of the proverb includes logical contradictions. Proverbs do not refer to universally valid truths, but because they are often used to expose sections of human history as they are convenient.

Commoneness and Cynicism

As proverbs were made by accumulating experiences, subjective opinions were inevitably contained and several contradictory proverbs were created. In Korean proverbs, logical contradictions in meaning are often expressed, probably because human society is where such contradictions coexist. In the end, it means that humans live in a dimension that goes beyond logical contradictions. The proverb can be said to be a mirror that reflects such human society as it is. The view of state or religion reflected in the proverb can be confirmed through the example below.

• Loyalist if it win, traitor if it lose
• Loyalist if it goes well, traitor if it goes wrong

What this proverb indicates is that the general public has little interest in political power and takes an objective attitude toward such power. Therefore, they also show an objective and cynical attitude toward the nobles who are close to political power.

• Yangban is thanks to writing, and plebeian is thanks to feet
• Person who could not be yangban, goes to the market and commands. (it means Bad guys go to easy places and pretend to be smart.)

As such, Korean ancestors are cynical to the yangban, but they destinedly accept that they raise the bureaucracy and lower the common people. So, from the beginning, there was no place in the proverb where concepts such as “loyalty” or “ethnicity” could intervene.

The following is the religious view of Koreans reflected in the proverb.

If there were proverbs settled in the unified Silla or early Goryeo, when Buddhism served as an important driving force for social development, there would have been a positive description of Buddhism as a subject, but Buddhism is not beautifully depicted in the remaining proverbs. In the Joseon Dynasty, only Sung Confucianism was recognized, so there are many proverbs that discriminate against Buddhism.

• Bhikkhuni jerk who get rained on
• As if a Bhikkhuni jerk get kicked on testicles and runs away

In this example, the monk was the object of criticism and booing, but there is no trace of respect. Although Buddhism was weak in Joseon Dynasty society, sometimes a highly virtuous monk performed the function of national history. Also, when the country was in an emergency, he raised a monk soldier and gave his life. Nevertheless, the fact that there is no positive Buddhist or monk figure in the proverb seems to reflect the consciousness structure of the common people who move exclusively to a specific social group.

Based on the proverb, it can be seen that Korean ancestors enjoyed the proverb according to their position between face and Silly. Of course, it can be said that these negative characteristics are not the true form of Koreans, but only one tendency that some common people have. Even so, it is far from a desirable character, and this is clearly the result of the expression of the cynical consciousness of the common people in language.

references

담사전』(이기문,민중서관,1962)

『우리나라 속담의 특징과 내용-무형의 증인-』(강신항,정화출판사,1979)

『한국속담의 근원설화』(강재철,백록출판사,1980)

『속담이야기』(김선풍·리용득,국학자료원,1993)

「속담의 감화성」(이용주,『서울대학교 사대학보』,1963)

「속담의 의미기능에 관한 연구」(김종택,『국어국문학』34.35호,1967)

「한국속담의 어,구,절(語.句.節) 유형연구」(이을환,『한글학회50돌기념논문집』,1971)

「속담에 나타난 민족성」(김선풍,『한국민속학』 5,민속학『속회,1972)

「속담의 유형연구」(문정애,『국어교육론지』 1,대구교육대학국어과,1973)

「속담의 비교연구」(서석연,『박인수박사화갑기념논문집』 제Ⅱ집,1976)

「속담의 의미기능에 대하여」(심재기,『이숭녕선생고희기념국어국문학논총』,1977)

「속담」(김선풍,『우리민속문학의 이해,개문사,1980)

「속담으로 푼 한국인의 성격」(최상진,『신동아』,1980.3.)

「속담의 종합적 검토를 위하여」(심재기,『관악어문연구』 7,서울대학교 국어국문학과,1982)