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First attested in the Records of the Three Kingdoms (c. 290 CE) as 斯盧 / 斯卢(OC *se b·raː, MC siᴇ luo) as in 斯盧國 (“Saro state”), one of the 12 statelets belonging to the Jinhan confederacy.
Other old variations include 新盧 / 新卢(OC *siŋ b·raː, MC siɪn luo) and 斯羅 / 斯罗(OC *se raːl, MC siᴇ lɑ).
In Old Korean documents, those country names were equated with the name of the capital, 徐羅伐(Syerapel, “Seorabeol”, modern Gyeongju), a compound of 徐羅(syera) + 伐(pel, “village”). Other variants include 徐那伐(syenapel), 徐耶伐(syeyapel) and 徐伐(syepel), whence 서울 (seoul, “capital city”).
徐(sye), the first syllable of 徐羅 is considered to mean “gold” because of 금성 (金城, geumseong, “gold castle/city/fort”), the sinicized name of the capital city (cf. 쇠 (soe), “iron, metal”). The second syllable 羅(ra) is according to one theory a connective particle, but another theory posits that it means “land”.
Shiratori (1896) derived this word from Old Korean徐羅城(*Syera-KUY), reconstructed from 徐羅(syera) as in 徐羅伐(Syerapel, “Seorabeol”, its capital city, present day Gyeongju) or 斯羅 (MC sje la), an older name of Silla; and Old Japanese城(ki2, “fortress, castle”) considered as borrowed from Baekje己(kuy), from Goguryeo忽(kol(o)) and older form 溝婁 / 沟娄 (kwurwu, OC *koː ɡ·roː/ɡ·ro, MC kəu lɨo|ləu), equated with Old Korean 伐(pel, “village”).
Aisin-Gioro (2009) proposed that there are also similar exonyms for Korea, made from the same configuration, Old Turkic𐰲𐰇𐰞𐰍𐰞(čölüg el, “Silla”), Jurchensolgor(“Goryeo”, whence cognate with Manchuᠰᠣᠯᡥᠣ(solho), “Korea”), and borrowed as MongolianСолго(Solgo, “Korea”) and Middle Mongol莎郎合思(Solangqas, “Goryeo”, whence cognate with MongolianСолонгос(Solongos), “Korea”), as being related to *Syera-kuy, and Khitan𘬥𘲀𘭲𘮒(*ś ul ó úr, “Silla, Goryeo”) as a descendant of 徐羅伐(Syera-pel).
^ according to 白鳥庫吉全集〈第3巻〉朝鮮史研究, 1970, first published in Shiratori, Kurakichi (1896) “朝鮮古代王號考”, in 史學雜誌, volume 7, 史學會 (The Historical Society of Japan)
^ Mabuchi, Kazuhito (1978) “『三国史記』記載の百済地名より見た古代百済語の考察 (On the Ancient Language of Kudara as Reflected in Kudara Place Names in the Sangokushiki)”, in 文藝言語研究. 言語篇 3, archived from the original on 17 April 2019, page 79