Very little is known of the language of the Buyeo kingdom. Chapter 30 "Description of the Eastern Barbarians" in the ''

Records of the Three Kingdoms The ''Records or History of the Three Kingdoms'', also known by its Chinese name as the Sanguo Zhi, is a Chinese historical text which covers the history of the late Eastern Han dynasty (c. 184–220 AD) and the Three Kingdoms period (220– ...

'' records a survey carried out by the Chinese state of

Wei Wei or WEI may refer to: States * Wey (state) (衛, 1040–209 BC), Wei in pinyin, but spelled Wey to distinguish from the bigger Wei of the Warring States * Wei (state) (魏, 403–225 BC), one of the seven major states of the Warring States per ...

after their defeat of

Goguryeo Goguryeo (37 BC–668 AD) ( ) also called Goryeo (), was a Korean kingdom located in the northern and central parts of the Korean Peninsula and the southern and central parts of Northeast China. At its peak of power, Goguryeo controlled most ...

in 244. The report states that the languages of Buyeo and those of its southern neighbours

and Ye were similar, and that the language of Okjeo was only slightly different from them. Based on this text, Lee Ki-Moon grouped the four languages as the

Puyŏ languages The Puyŏ (Korean language, Korean: 부여 ''Buyeo/Puyŏ''; ) or Puyo-Koguryoic languages are four languages of northern Korean peninsula, Korea and eastern Manchuria mentioned in ancient Chinese sources. The languages of Buyeo language, Buyeo, G ...

, contemporaneous with the Han languages of the

Samhan Samhan, or Three Han, is the collective name of the Byeonhan, Jinhan, and Mahan confederacies that emerged in the first century BC during the Proto–Three Kingdoms of Korea, or Samhan, period. Located in the central and southern regions of t ...

confederacies in southern Korea. The most widely cited evidence for this group is a body of placename glosses in the ''Samguk sagi'' (1154), which some authors take to represent the language of Goguryeo, but others believe reflect a mix of languages spoken by peoples conquered by Goguryeo. Scholars who take these words as representing the language of Goguryeo have come to a range of conclusions about the language, some holding that it was

Koreanic Koreanic is a small language family consisting of the Korean language, Korean and Jeju language, Jeju languages. The latter is often described as a dialect of Korean, but is distinct enough to be considered a separate language. Alexander Vovin s ...

, others that it was

Japonic Japonic or Japanese–Ryukyuan, sometimes also Japanic, is a language family comprising Japanese, spoken in the main islands of Japan, and the Ryukyuan languages, spoken in the Ryukyu Islands. The family is universally accepted by linguists, and ...

, and others that it was somehow intermediate between these families. The same chapter of the ''Records of the Three Kingdoms'' transcribes a Buyeo word for noblemen subordinate only to the king as . This character was pronounced ''kai'' in Eastern Han Chinese. Beckwith identified this word with a ''Samguk sagi'' gloss / (pronounced ''kɛj''/''kɛjtshij^H'' in

Middle Chinese Middle Chinese (formerly known as Ancient Chinese) or the Qieyun system (QYS) is the historical variety of Chinese recorded in the '' Qieyun'', a rime dictionary first published in 601 and followed by several revised and expanded editions. The ...

, ''kay''/''kaycha'' in Sino-Korean) for 'king', and the

Baekje language The language of the kingdom of Baekje (4th to 7th centuries), one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, is poorly attested, and scholars differ on whether one or two languages were used. However, at least some of the material appears to be variety of O ...

word for 'ruler' transcribed in the '' Nihon Shoki'' as Old Japanese ''ki₁si''.

References

Works cited * * * * * * Buyeo Puyŏ languages Languages extinct in the 7th century {{koreanic-lang-stub