Editing Korea (section)

==Etymology==
{{Main|Names of Korea}}
{{See also|Korean romanization}}

"Korea" is the modern spelling of "Corea", a name attested in English as early as 1614.<ref name=oed>{{cite encyclopedia|encyclopedia=Oxford English Dictionary|url=http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/104363|title=Korean|access-date=20 December 2013|archive-date=7 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211007013815/https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/104363|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=youtube on 'Korea? Corea?'|website = [[YouTube]]| date=12 January 2016 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuc3qigGDpc| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/tuc3qigGDpc| archive-date=11 December 2021 | url-status=live}}{{cbignore}}</ref> "Corea" is derived from the name of the ancient kingdom of [[Goryeo]].{{CN|date=April 2025}} Korea was [[Romanization of Chinese|transliterated]] as ''Cauli'' in ''[[The Travels of Marco Polo]]'',<ref>{{cite book|last=Haw|first=Stephen G.|title=Marco Polo's China: A Venetian in the Realm of Khubilai Khan|date=2006|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781134275427|pages=4–5|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DSfvfr8VQSEC&pg=PA4|access-date=29 September 2017|language=en}}</ref> of the [[Chinese language|Chinese]] {{lang|zh|高麗}} (<small>[[Middle Chinese|MC]]</small>: ''Kawlej'',<ref name=baxsag>Baxter, William & al. "[http://crlao.ehess.fr/docannexe.php?id=1207 Baxter–Sagart Old Chinese Reconstruction] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927141238/http://crlao.ehess.fr/docannexe.php?id=1207 |date=27 September 2013 }}", pp. 43, 58 & 80. 20 February 2011. Retrieved 20 December 2013.</ref> <small>[[Standard Mandarin|mod.]]</small> ''Gāolì''). This was the [[Hanja]] for the Korean kingdom of [[Goryeo]] ({{Korean|hangul=고려|mr=Koryŏ}}), which ruled most of the Korean peninsula during the 12th century. Korea's introduction to the West resulted from trade and contact with merchants from Arabic lands,<ref>{{cite book|last1=Till|first1=Geoffrey|last2=Bratton|first2=Patrick|title=Sea Power and the Asia-Pacific: The Triumph of Neptune?|date=2012|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781136627248|page=145|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RxOpAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA145|access-date=29 September 2017|language=en}}</ref> with some records dating back as far as the 9th century.<ref>{{cite book|last=Seung-Yong|first=Yunn|title=Religious culture in Korea|date=1996|publisher=Hollym|page=99|isbn=9781565910843|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tvcQAQAAIAAJ|access-date=29 September 2017|language=en}}</ref> Goryeo's name was a continuation of [[Goguryeo]] (Koguryŏ) the northernmost of the [[Three Kingdoms of Korea]], which was officially known as Goryeo beginning in the 5th century.<ref>{{cite web|script-title=ko:디지털 삼국유사 사전, 박물지 시범개발|url=https://www.culturecontent.com/content/contentView.do?search_div=CP_THE&search_div_id=CP_THE004&cp_code=rp0703&index_id=rp07032340&content_id=rp070309330002&print=Y|website=문화콘텐츠닷컴|publisher=Korea Creative Content Agency|access-date=6 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181119100108/https://www.culturecontent.com/content/contentView.do?search_div=CP_THE&search_div_id=CP_THE004&cp_code=rp0703&index_id=rp07032340&content_id=rp070309330002&print=Y|archive-date=19 November 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref> The original name was a combination of the adjectives ("high, lofty") with the name of a local [[Yemaek]] tribe, whose original name is thought to have been either "''Guru"'' ({{langx|ko|溝樓|lit=Walled City|label=none}}, inferred from some toponyms in Chinese historical documents) or "''Gauri"'' ({{langx|ko|가우리|lit=Center|label=none}}). With expanding British and American trade following the [[opening of Korea]] in the late 19th century, the spelling "Korea" appeared and gradually grew in popularity.<ref name=oed/> The name Korea is now commonly used in English contexts by both North and South Korea.

In South Korea, Korea as a whole is referred to as {{transliteration|ko|Hanguk}} ({{Korean|hangul=한국|labels=no|lit=country of the ''[[Samhan|Han]]''}}, {{IPA|ko|haːnɡuk|}}). The name references ''[[Samhan]]'', referring to the [[Three Kingdoms of Korea]], not the ancient confederacies in the southern Korean Peninsula.<ref>{{cite web |last1=이기환 |script-title=ko:[이기환의 흔적의 역사]국호논쟁의 전말{{nbsp}}... 대한민국이냐 고려공화국이냐 |url=http://news.khan.co.kr/kh_news/khan_art_view.html?artid=201708300913001&code=960100&www |website=[[Kyunghyang Shinmun]] |access-date=2 July 2018 |language=ko |date=30 August 2017 |archive-date=12 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190812154305/http://news.khan.co.kr/kh_news/khan_art_view.html?artid=201708300913001&code=960100&www |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Lee |first=Deok-il |script-title=ko:[이덕일 사랑] 대~한민국 |url=http://news.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2008/08/14/2008081401512.html |work=[[The Chosun Ilbo]] |access-date=2 July 2018 |language=ko |archive-date=19 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181119100109/http://news.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2008/08/14/2008081401512.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Although written in Hanja as {{lang|zh|韓}}, {{lang|zh|幹}}, or {{lang|zh|刊}}, this ''Han'' has no relation to the Chinese place names or peoples who used those characters but was a [[transcription into Chinese|phonetic transcription]] (<small>[[Old Chinese|OC]]</small>: [[reconstruction of Old Chinese|*]]''Gar'', <small>[[Middle Chinese|MC]]</small>: ''Han''<ref name=baxsag/> or ''Gan'') of a native Korean word that seems to have had the meaning "big" or "great", particularly in reference to leaders. It has been tentatively linked with the title ''[[khan (title)|khan]]'' used by the nomads of [[Manchuria]] and [[Central Asia]].

In North Korea, Korea as a whole is referred to as {{transliteration|ko|Joseon}} ({{Korean|hangul=조선|labels=no|lit=[land of the] Morning Calm}}, {{IPA|ko|tɕosʰʌn|}}). {{transliteration|ko|Joseon}} is the modern Korean pronunciation of the Hanja {{lang|ko|朝鮮}}, which is also the basis of the word for Korea as a whole in [[Japan]] ({{Langx|ja|朝鮮|translit=Chōsen|label=none}}), [[China]] ({{Zh|t=朝鮮|p=Cháoxiǎn|labels=no}}), and [[Vietnam]] ({{lang|vi|Triều Tiên}}). "Great [[Joseon]]" was the name of the kingdom ruled by the [[House of Yi|Joseon dynasty]] from 1392 until their declaration of the short-lived [[Great Korean Empire]] in 1897. [[Taejo of Joseon|King Taejo]] had named them for the earlier [[Gojoseon]] ({{lang|ko|고조선}}), who ruled northern Korea from its legendary [[prehistory of Korea|prehistory]] until their conquest in 108 BCE by China's [[Han Empire]]. The ''Go-'' in Gojoseon is the Hanja word {{lang|ko|古}} and simply means "ancient" or "old"; it is a modern usage to distinguish the ancient Joseon from the later dynasty. It is unclear whether {{transliteration|ko|Joseon}} was a [[transcription into Chinese|transcription]] of a native Korean name (<small>[[Old Chinese|OC]]</small> [[reconstruction of Old Chinese|*]]''T[r]awser'', <small>[[Middle Chinese|MC]]</small> ''Trjewsjen'')<ref name=baxsag/> or a partial translation into Chinese of the Korean capital [[Asadal]] ({{lang|ko|아사달}}),{{refn|First attested in the 13th-century ''[[Samguk yusa]]'' as {{lang|zh|阿斯達}} (<small>[[middle Chinese|MC]] ''Asjedat''</small><ref name=baxsag/>). The name is credited to the 6th-century ''[[Book of Wei]]'' but does not appear in surviving passages.}} whose meaning has been reconstructed as "Morning Land" or "Mountain".