Names of Seoul

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It has been suggested that Gyeongseong be merged into this article or section. (Discuss)

The city has been known in the past by the successive names Wirye-seong (위례성; 慰禮城, Baekje era), Namgyeong (남경; 南京, Goryeo era), Hanseong (한성; 漢城, Joseon era) or Hanyang (한양; 漢陽). During the period of Japanese occupation, Seoul was called Gyeongseong (경성; 京城) by the public and "Keijo" by the Japanese. Its current name,Seoul originated from the Korean word “seo'ul” meaning "capital city". An etymological hypothesis presume that the origin of the native word “seo'ul” derives from the native name Seorabeol (서라벌; 徐羅伐), which originally referred to Gyeongju, the capital of Silla, then called Geumseong (금성; 金星).

[edit] Chinese name for Seoul

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[edit] Translation

Unlike most place names in Korea, "Seoul" has no corresponding hanja (Chinese characters used in the Korean language), although its name is presumed to derive from 徐羅伐 (Seorabeol), so Chinese-speaking countries, for decades, have referred to the city by its former name: 漢城 ("Hànchéng" in Mandarin Chinese, "Hon3 Sing4" in Cantonese Chinese). For a time during the late 40's and early 50's, the transliterated name 蘇烏, which closely resembles to the English pronunciation for Seoul, was used.

This often caused problems in translation, for in Korean, the terms "Seoul" and "Hanseong" are considered different. There exist many institutions and entities, most of them having no connections whatsoever, which uses the two names. When the names of these institutions and entities are translated into Chinese, "Seoul" and "Hanseong" are automatically translated to 漢城 (Hànchéng).

Typical examples of such errors in translation include the Seoul National University (漢城大學, later 漢城國立大學, officially Seoul大學) and Hanseong University (漢城大學), as well as the Seoul Science High School, and the Hanseong Science High School, which are completely different institutions, but can be confused when their names are translated into Chinese.

[edit] Change of Chinese name

The problem, along with the confusion it caused for years, was solved in January 2005, when the city government requested that the Chinese name of the city be changed to 首爾 ("Shǒu'ěr" in Chinese pronunciation). The name was chosen by a select committee out of two names, the other being 首午爾 ("Shǒuwu'ěr" in Chinese pronunciation).

The chosen name is a close transliteration of Seoul in Mandarin Chinese, where 首 (shǒu) can also mean "first" or "capital". For a some time after the name change, Chinese-language news medias have used both names interchangeably during their publications or broadcasts (首爾 [漢城]) in print, 首爾, 以前的漢城 [literally: Shouer, formerly called Hancheng] in television and radio). Despite the adoption of Shǒu'ěr (首爾) in Chinese media, the name Hànchéng (漢城) is still widely used by ordinary Chinese people.

For some time, Mainland China media stridently refused to adopt the new name, claiming that Chinese people have the right to choose how they name other cities around the world. They relented by the end of the year.

It is argued that this change was intended for Chinese speakers only, and has no effect on the Korean language name. Had the name change affected the city's Korean name, Seoul would have been renamed from 서울 (Seoul) to 수이 (Su-i).

Some linguists have criticized the selection of the new name, claiming that it bears no resemblance to the Korean name at all, and that its intended representation of the Korean pronunciation, while effective in Mandarin, is lost in other regional dialects, such as in Cantonese, where the name is pronounced "sau2 yi5". These critics have said that the names "西蔚" or "徐蔚" (the latter being the ancient name of Seoul) would have been much more effective in representing the city's Korean name. In the Shanghai dialect，"首爾" is pronounced "sew2 el3"．