쌀

Korean

Etymology

First attested in the Jīlín lèishì (鷄林類事 / 계림유사), 1103, as Late Old Korean 菩薩.

In the Hangul script, first attested in the Seokbo sangjeol (釋譜詳節 / 석보상절), 1447, as Middle Korean ᄡᆞᆯ〮 (Yale: psól). The Middle Korean p- is still preserved in many compounds where 쌀 is the second element, such as 멥쌀 (mepssal) and 찹쌀 (chapssal).

Alexander Vovin argues in a 2015 work that this term could be a Japonic loan, connecting it with Japanese 早稲 (wase, “early-ripening rice”), with two assumptions:

• That the initial p- came from a phonological inability to render initial Japonic w-.
• That the final consonant was originally present in early Japonic but had been eliminated in the insular languages.

Meanwhile, James Marshall Unger presents a case in a 2000 paper that explains a possible derivation for Japanese terms like 早稲 (wase) that have alternating apophonic forms (standalone wase and compounding form wasa-), suggesting instead that these may be cognates with Koreanic terms.

Joo (2021) argues that its earlier transcription as posal 菩薩 (“bodhisattva”) is in fact not a mere phonetic transcription but actually reflects its etymological origin from Middle Chinese, citing the case of a Japanese dialect using the same word 菩薩 (bosatsu) to refer to raw rice, and also a religious practice in Korea where a jar of grain is used to symbolize Buddha's body.

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

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

• South Gyeongsang (Busan) pitch accent: 쌀의 / 쌀에 / 쌀까지

  Syllables in red take high pitch. This word always takes high pitch and also heightens the next suffixed syllable, unless it is 에.

Noun

쌀 • (ssal)

1. uncooked rice
2. white hulled grains of barley, wheat, etc.

Derived terms

Related terms

See also

• 벼 (byeo, “rice plant”)
• 米 (mi), the hanja for "rice"

References