누
|
누눅눆눇눈눉눊 눋눌눍눎눏눐눑 눒눓눔눕눖눗눘 눙눚눛눜눝눞눟 | |
뇨 ← | → 눠 |
---|
Korean
Pronunciation
- (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA(key): [nu]
- Phonetic hangul: [누]
Romanizations | |
---|---|
Revised Romanization? | nu |
Revised Romanization (translit.)? | nu |
McCune–Reischauer? | nu |
Yale Romanization? | nwu |
Etymology 1
Korean reading of various Chinese characters.
Syllable
누 (nu)
Extended content |
---|
Pronoun
누 • (nu)
Middle Korean
Etymology
It has been suggested since the 1950s that the basic Korean pronouns 나 (na, “I; me”), 너 (ne, “you”), and 누 (nwu, “who”) (> modern 누구 (nugu)) were all formed from the same etymon via ablaut, which appears to have once been an extremely productive process in Korean, at some very ancient stage.[1][2] Given the very limited data on prehistoric Korean, this hypothesis cannot be proven for sure either way.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /nú/
Pronoun
누〮 (nwú)
- (interrogative) who?
- 1459, 月印釋譜 / 월인석보 [Worin seokbo], pages 8:86b—8.87a:
- 아라〮 녀리〮 그츤〮 이〮런 이ᄫᅳᆫ〮 길헤〮 눌〯 보〯리라〮 우러〮곰〮 온다〮
- àlá nyèl_í kùchún ílèn ìWún kìlh-éy nwǔ-l pwǒlìlá wùlé-kwóm wòntá
- On this confounding trail where there are no longer those to know the way, who do you intend to see, that you come weeping thus?
Usage notes
In Middle Korean, the pronoun only had an interrogative sense and did not mean "somebody" as in Modern Korean. The word for "somebody" was 아모 (amwo) > Modern 아무 (amu).
Inflection
Case | Form |
---|---|
Isolated | 누〮 (nwú) |
Nominative | 뉘〮 (nwúy) |
Accusative | 눌〯 (nwǔ-l), 누〮를〮 (nwú-lúl), 누〯를〮 (nwǔ-lúl) |
Genitive | 뉘〯 (nwǔy) |
The Middle Korean pronouns have an irregular pitch inflection otherwise unusual in the language, and the origin of which is unknown.
Descendants
References
- 이근수 [igeunsu] (1971) “母音의 意味交替의 範疇中期國語를 中心으로”, in Gugeo gungmunhak, volume 54, pages 93—132
- 이근수 [igeunsu] (1975) “Ablaut 硏究”, in Eomunnonjip, volume 10, pages 85—100