Idu script


Idu was a writing system developed during the Three Kingdoms period of Korea to write the Korean language using Chinese characters. It used Hanja to represent both native Korean words and grammatical morphemes as well as Chinese loanwords. The script, which was developed by Buddhist monks, made it possible to record Korean words through their equivalent meaning or sound in Chinese. It was used primarily to write official documents and the imperial examinations from 958 AD-1894 AD.
The term idu may refer to various systems of representing Korean phonology through hanja, which were used from the early Three Kingdoms to Joseon periods. In this sense, it includes hyangchal, the local writing system used to write vernacular poetry and gugyeol writing. Its narrow sense only refers to idu proper or the system developed in the Goryeo, and first referred to by name in the Jewang ungi.

History

The Idu script developed during the Three Kingdoms period of Korea between 57 BC-668 AD. It was used for writing official documents and the imperial examinations from 958 AD-1894 AD. The Idu script was used to write both native Korean expressions as well as Chinese characters that still retained their original meaning and Chinese pronunciation. The basic words were commonly Chinese in origin, written in Hanja, and pronounced approximately in the same way as in Chinese. However unlike Classical Chinese, the Idu script also incorporated Korean words and Korean grammatical morphemes represented using Hanja that only retained their pronunciation but not their original meaning. They were used purely for their phonetic values to represent Korean expressions. The Idu script was written in Korean grammatical word order.
Aside from writing official documents and imperial examinations, the Idu script was also used to clarify Chinese government documents written in Classical Chinese so that they could be understood by Korean readers, to teach Koreans Classical Chinese, and to translate Chinese documents such as the Ming legal code and the Essentials of agriculture and sericulture .

Example

The following example is from the 1415 book Yangjam Gyeongheom Chwaryo.
Literary Chinese蠶陽物大惡水故食而不飮
Idu transcription蠶陽物水氣厭却桑葉喫破飮水
Old Korean
Modern Korean누에 양물, 물기 싫어해, 뽕잎 먹, 물을 마시지.
MeaningSilkworm is Yang animal, it doesn't like water's gi, so it eats mulberry leaves but does not drink water.