View source for Idu script

{{Short description|Archaic Korean language writing system}}
{{About|an archaic writing system of Korea|the ethnic group in Tibet|Lhoba people}}
{{Infobox Korean name
|img=Yuseopilji.jpg
|caption=A page from the 19th-century yuseopilji.
|hangul=이두
|hanja={{linktext|吏|讀|}}
|rr=Idu
|mr=Idu
}}
{{Korean writing}}
{{Table Hanzi}}

'''Idu''' ({{Korean|hangul=이두|hanja=吏讀|lit='official's reading'}}) was a [[writing system]] developed during the [[Three Kingdoms of Korea|Three Kingdoms]] period of Korea (57 BC-668 AD) to write the [[Korean language]] using [[Chinese characters]] ("[[hanja]]"). 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.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Origins of Higher Learning: Knowledge Networks and the Early Development of Universities |last1=Lowe |first1=Roy |last2=Yasuhara |first2=Yoshihito |date=2016 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-1-138-84482-7 |location=Oxon |page=80 |name-list-style=amp}}</ref>

The term ''idu'' may refer to various systems of representing [[Korean phonology]] through hanja, which were used from the early [[Three Kingdoms of Korea|Three Kingdoms]] to [[Joseon]] periods. In this sense, it includes ''[[hyangchal]]'',<ref name=Oxford>{{Cite book |title=The Oxford Handbook of Sound and Imagination |last1=Grimshaw-Aagaard |first1=Mark |last2=Walther-Hansen |first2=Mads |last3=Knakkergaard |first3=Martin |date=2019 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-046016-7 |location=New York |page=426 |name-list-style=amp}}</ref> the local writing system used to write vernacular poetry<ref name=Oxford /> and ''[[gugyeol]]'' writing. Its narrow sense only refers to ''idu'' proper<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Jvm7DwAAQBAJ&q=idu+script+hanja&pg=PT120 |title=The Chinese Writing System in Asia: An Interdisciplinary Perspective |last=Li |first=Yu |date=2019-11-04 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-00-069906-7 |language=en}}</ref> or the system developed in the [[Goryeo]] (918–1392), and first referred to by name in the ''[[Jewang ungi]]''.

== History ==
The Idu script developed during the [[Three Kingdoms of Korea|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 (Hanja) that still retained their original meaning and Chinese pronunciation (loanwords). The basic words were commonly Chinese in origin, written in Hanja, and pronounced approximately in the same way as in Chinese (''on''). 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.{{sfn|Li|2020|p=78-79}}<ref>{{cite book |editor-first=Peter H. |editor-last=Lee |year=2003 |title=A History of Korean Literature |publisher=Cambridge University Press |url=https://archive.org/details/historykoreanlit00leep |url-access=limited |isbn=9780521828581 |location=Cambridge |page=27 |chapter=Language, forms, prosody and themes |first1=Ho-Min |last1=Sohn |first2=Peter H. |last2=Lee |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/historykoreanlit00leep/page/27/mode/2up  |name-list-style=amp}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=The Writing on the Wall: How Asian Orthography Curbs Creativity |last=Hannas |first=William C. |date=2013-03-26 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |isbn=978-0-8122-0216-8}}</ref>

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,<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |title=The Oxford Handbook of the History of Linguistics |last=Allan |first=Keith |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2013 |isbn=9780199585847 |location=Oxford, UK |page=222}}</ref> to teach Koreans Classical Chinese, and to translate Chinese documents such as the Ming legal code and the ''Essentials of agriculture and sericulture'' (Nongsan jiyao) (ordered by the [[Taejong of Joseon|King Taejong]] in 1414).<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |title=Languages, scripts, and Chinese texts in East Asia |last=Kornicki |first=Peter Francis |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2018 |isbn=9780198797821 |location=New York |page=197}}</ref>

== Example ==
The following example is from the 1415 book ''Yangjam Gyeongheom Chwaryo'' ({{Korean|hangul=양잠경험촬요|hanja=養蠶經驗撮要|labels=no}}, lit. 'Collected Summary of the Experiences of Silkworm Cultivation').

{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Literary Chinese
|蠶陽物大惡水故食而不飮
|-
!Idu transcription
|蠶{{grey|段}}陽物{{grey|是乎等用良}}水氣{{grey|乙}}厭却桑葉{{grey|叱分}}喫破{{grey|爲遣}}飮水{{grey|不冬}}
|-
!Old Korean
|{{Script/Korean|蠶{{grey|ᄯᆞᆫ}} 陽物{{grey|이온ᄃᆞ로ᄡᅥ}} 水氣{{grey|ᄅᆞᆯ}} 厭却 桑葉{{grey|ᄲᅮᆫ}} 喫破{{grey|ᄒᆞ고}} 飮水{{grey|안ᄃᆞᆯ}}}}
|-
!Modern Korean
|누에{{grey|는}} 양물{{grey|로써}}, 물기{{grey|를}} 싫어해, 뽕잎{{grey|만}} 먹{{grey|고}}, 물을 마시지 {{grey|않는다}}.
|-
!Meaning
|Silkworm is [[Yin and Yang|Yang]] (positive) animal, it doesn't like water's [[Qi|gi]], so it eats mulberry leaves but does not drink water.
|}

==See also==
* [[Korean language]]
* ''[[Hunminjeongeum]]''
* [[Kanbun]]
* ''[[Man'yōgana]]''

==References==
{{reflist}}
* {{cite book |editor-first=Peter H. |editor-last=Lee |year=2003 |title=A History of Korean Literature |publisher=Cambridge University Press |url=https://archive.org/details/historykoreanlit00leep |url-access=limited |isbn=9780521828581 |location=Cambridge }}
* {{citation |author=Nam Pung-hyeon (남풍현) |year=2000 |title=Idu Study |trans-title=吏讀研究 |publisher=Taehak Publishing (太學社) |location=Seoul, Korea}}

==Bibliography==
* {{citation|last=Li|first=Yu|year=2020|title=The Chinese Writing System in Asia}}

{{list of writing systems}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Korean writing system]]
[[Category:Syllabary writing systems]]
[[Category:Writing systems derived from Chinese characters]]


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