까마귀

First attested in the Yongbi eocheon'ga (龍飛御天歌 / 용비어천가), 1447, as Middle Korean 가마괴〮 (Yale: kàmàkwóy).

Also attested in the Worin seokbo (月印釋譜 / 월인석보), 1459, as Middle Korean 가마귀〮 (Yale: kàmàkwúy).

The influential mid-twentieth-century linguist Heo Ung believed this was 감 (Yale: kam-, “to be black”) + 아괴〮 (Yale: -àkwóy, rare noun-deriving suffix), and most Korean etymologists have followed his lead. Compare 뜨더귀 (tteudeogwi, “something torn to pieces”), from 뜯다 (tteutda, “to pluck, to tear”).

But also compare 가마오〮디 (Yale: kàmàwótì, “cormorant”, a pitch-black seabird) > modern 가마우지 (gamauji), where bisyllabic /kàmà/ would appear to be the morpheme for "black", cf. 오지 (oji, “cormorant”, dialectal).

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): ~
• Phonetic hangul:

• South Gyeongsang (Busan) pitch accent: 까마귀의 / 까마귀에 / 까마귀까지

  Syllables in red take high pitch. This word always takes high pitch on the second syllable, and lowers the pitch of subsequent suffixes.

까마귀 • (kkamagwi)

1. crow, raven

• 까치 (kkachi): magpie