Dongguk jeongun (Standard Rhymes of the Eastern State)

The first Korean book of standard pronunciation, compiled by Sin Suk-ju, Choe Hang, Bak Paeng-nyeon and others at the command of King Sejong of Joseon and printed in 1448, the thirtieth year of his reign: six volumes in six books, printed in movable type. It answers the Chinese rhyme book Hongwu zhengyun, and Dongguk jeongun means 'the correct sounds of the Eastern State'. It was compiled and printed to correct the confused Korean pronunciation of Chinese characters at the time and fix a single standard. The large characters of the main text are in wooden type, the small characters in Gabinja type, and the preface in large Gabinja. There are seven leaves of preface and four of contents; volume 1 has 46 leaves, volume 2 47, volume 3 46, volume 4 40, volume 5 43 and volume 6 44. It measures 19.8 cm by 31.9 cm. Compared with the national treasure copy of Dongguk jeongun printed at the same time, it shows the following: first, the top and bottom margins were trimmed a little when it was rebound; second, both titles are woodblock-printed, but in different hands; third, the order of the books is written in ink with the characters for the six arts — rites, music, archery, charioteering, calligraphy and mathematics — which seems to have been added later. It is of great significance as the first book to write the sounds of Chinese characters in Korea's own script, and it is valued as a source for the study of the Korean language on a par with the Hunminjeongeum. It is a basic source not only for the phonology of Sino-Korean but for the background to the creation of the Hunminjeongeum letters and their sound system. With the national treasure copy printed at the same time, it is regarded as a very precious source for the study of phonology in its day.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Gwangjin-gu, Seoul

Designation

National Treasure · 국보