Gyeongseong

Seoul has been known in the past by successive names, including Wiryeseong () and Hanseong (Baekje era), Bukhansangun (Goguryo era), Hanyang (North and South states period), Namgyeong (, Goryeo era), Hanyangbu (Goryeo under Mongol rule), Hanseong (, Joseon era) and Hanyang (). In the Joseon era, it started to be called Seoul by the public. In the middle of Joseon era, Hanseong & Hanyang were almost replaced by Seoul and only remained formal name. During the period of Japanese colonial rule, Seoul was referred to by the Japanese exonym , or Gyeongseong () in Korean. After World War II and Korea's liberation, the city took its familiar name, Seoul.

Etymology of "Seoul"

Seoul is a rendering of the Korean word “seo'ul” (), pronounced əˈul An etymological hypothesis presumes that the origin of the native word “seo'ul” derives from the native name ''Seorabeol'' (), which originally referred to Gyeongju, the capital of Silla, then called ''Geumseong'' ().

Hanseong

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 (''Seorabeol''), so Chinese-speaking countries for decades have referred to the city by its former name: ("" in Mandarin, "''Hon Sìhng''" in Cantonese and "''Hoe Zen''" in Shanghainese). On a 1751 map of China and Korea prepared in France, Seoul was marked as "King-Ki-Tao, Capitale de la Corée", using an approximation of the Chinese pronunciation of Gyeonggi Province (). The use of "King-Ki-Tao" to refer to Seoul was repeated again on the 1851 Tallis/Rapkin map of both Japan and Korea. For a time during the late 1940s and early 1950s, the transliterated name (), which closely resembles the English pronunciation for Seoul, was used.

This often caused problems in translation, as in Korean, the terms "Seoul" and "Hanseong" are considered different. There exist many institutions and entities, most of them having no connections whatsoever, which use either name. When the names of these institutions and entities are translated into Chinese, both "Seoul" and "Hanseong" were automatically translated to (). Typical examples of such errors in translation included Seoul National University versus Hansung University, which both would be translated to (Hànchéng Dàxué), as well as Seoul Science High School versus Hansung Science High School.

The problem, along with the confusion it caused for years, was solved in January 2005, when the Seoul City Government under then mayor Lee Myung Bak publicly requested that the Chinese name of the city be changed to (), written as in simplified Chinese in mainland China. The name was chosen by a select committee out of two names, the other being ().

The chosen name is a close transliteration of Seoul in Mandarin Chinese; () can also mean "first" or "capital". For a some time after the name change, Chinese-language news media have used both names interchangeably during their publications or broadcasts ( in print, iterally: Shouer, formerly Hanchengin television and radio). Despite the adoption of () in Chinese media, the name () is still widely used by some Chinese people.
This change was intended for Chinese speakers only, and has no effect on the Korean language name. The new name would be written and pronounced 수이 (Su-i) in Korean. Some linguists have criticized the selection of the new name, claiming that its pronunciation in Korean bears no resemblance to the native 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", or in Shanghainese, in which the new name () is pronounced "sew2 el3". These critics have said that the names "" or "" (the latter being the ancient name of Seoul) would have been much more effective in representing the city's Korean name.

Gyeongseong

"Gyeongseong" is a Sino-Korean word for "capital city" (''Gyeong'' () means "capital" and ''seong'' () means "walled city"). It was in occasional use to refer to Seoul throughout the Joseon dynasty, having earlier referred to the capitals of Goryeo and Silla. The term came into much wider use during the period of Japanese rule, because it is also the Korean form of , the former Japanese name used for Seoul during the colonial rule.

Seoul was called Hanseong () or Hanyang () during the Joseon dynasty, but the city's main railway station, Seoul Station, opened with the name "Gyeongseong Station" () in 1900, which it retained until 1905. It was called Gyeongseong Station again from 1923 to 1947, when it assumed its current name.

''Gyeong'' is still used to refer to Seoul in the names of various railway lines and freeways, including:

*Gyeongbu Line (''Gyeongbuseon'' () in Korean) and Gyeongbu Expressway (''Gyeongbu Gosok Doro''; ) between Seoul and Busan ();
*Gyeongin Line (''Gyeonginseon''; ) and Gyeongin Expressway (''Gyeongin Gosok Doro''; ) between Seoul and Incheon ();
*Gyeongui Line (''Gyeonguiseon''; ) between Seoul and Dorasan (the ''ui'' comes from ''Sinuiju'' (), the Revised Romanized spelling of Sinŭiju () in North Korea, the line's original terminus on the Chinese border—see the article on the Gyeongui Line for details);
*Gyeongwon Line (''Gyeongwonseon''; ) between Seoul and Baengmagoji (originally the line went to Wonsan () in what is now North Korea); and
*Gyeongchun Line (''Gyeongchunseon''; ) between Seoul and Chuncheon () in Gangwon Province.

See also

* History of Seoul

References

{{Reflist

External links

Korean Studies List discussion of the names Gyeongseong and Gyeongin

History of Seoul
Seoul, Names of
Seoul, Names of