Why Is 'ㄱ' Not '기윽'?
The naming of Korean consonants generally follows a systematic principle: adding the vowel 'ㅣ' to form the first syllable and 'ㅡ' to form the second syllable. For example, 'ㄹ' is written as '리', 'ㅇ' as '이음', and 'ㅊ' as '치읓'. Based on this pattern, '기억' should theoretically be '기윽'. So why is 'ㄱ' called '기억' rather than '기윽'?
In 1527, Choi Se-jin's Hunmongjahoe listed 'ㄱ' as '기역(役)', 'ㄴ' as '니은(尼隱)', 'ㄹ' as '리을(梨乙)', and 'ㅁ' as '미음(眉)'. This reflects the use of the principle of adding 'ㅡ' to form the second syllable. However, '기억' was not written as '기윽' because there was no corresponding Chinese character for '윽'. Instead, '역(役)' was used as it sounded similar.
In 1916, Kim Du-bong’s Joseonmalbon also referred to 'ㄱ' as '기윽'. However, the 1933 Korean Orthography Unification Plan standardized the name as '기역', recognizing the longstanding practice of using '기역'.
North Korea, on the other hand, calls 'ㄱ' '기윽', and 'ㄷ' and 'ㅅ' as '다음' and '시읏', respectively. South Korea permits the traditional usage of '기역', '디귿', and '시옷', while North Korea has adopted a standardized naming system. For instance, '쌍기역' (double ㄱ) is referred to as '기윽' in North Korea. Despite this, vowel names remain consistent across both Koreas.
The naming system for Korean consonants, similar to ‘니은’ and ‘리을’, was first formalized by Choi Se-jin in 1527 in Hunmongjahoe. As this work was a textbook for learning Chinese characters, consonant names were written using Chinese characters. For sounds like ‘-윽’, ‘-읃’, and ‘-읏’, which couldn’t be directly represented in Chinese, names like '기역', '디귿', and '시옷' were used.
The 1933 Korean Orthography Unification Plan maintained these existing conventions, while North Korea's 1954 spelling reform adopted '기윽', '디읃', and '시읏', reflecting an adherence to the original naming principles.
Additionally, the Hunmongjahoe named 'ㅈ', 'ㅊ', 'ㅋ', 'ㅌ', 'ㅍ', and 'ㅎ' as '지' (Ji), '치' (Chi), '키' (Ki), '티' (Ti), '피' (Pi), and '히' (Hi). These characters were not used as final consonants, so their names did not need to reflect final consonant usage. At that time, only eight final consonants ('ㄱ', 'ㄴ', 'ㄷ', 'ㄹ', 'ㅁ', 'ㅂ', 'ㅅ', 'ㅇ') were used.
In summary, the historical context and the lack of appropriate Chinese characters for certain sounds led to the naming conventions we have today. South Korea retains '기역', while North Korea uses '기윽', highlighting differences in adherence to historical naming principles and modern usage.
