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after 1795, 李洙(I Su) et al., chapter 111, in 重刊老乞大諺解(Junggan Nogeoldae Eonhae) [Reprinted Nogeoldae, with Korean Interpretation]Ogura Coll.Asami Coll., volume 2:
From Middle Korean예〯(Yěy), from Old Korean倭理(*YEri, “Japanese”). This is among the only native (non-Sino-Korean) Korean terms for ethnic groups that survive in the written record.
The hanja穢(yey, literally “filthy, obscene”) was sometimes assigned to this word, either pejoratively or out of a genuine misunderstanding that this was the origin of the word.
Korean
Etymology 1
Not attested in Middle Korean. Probably from the same source as 네(ne), plausibly *녜(*nye) (not directly attested).
"Hey, Tong-in!" "Yes, sir." "Go look carefully at what that thing over there, amid the flowers and willows, might be: the thing that is hurrying back and forth in flashes of white."
Usage notes
Korean has a number of words for "yes". 예(ye) is highly polite and formal (appropriate in an interview), 네(ne) is polite but less formal (appropriate in a conversation with parents), and 응(eung) and 어(eo) are plain and non-formal (appropriate in a conversation with friends).
As in the example above, Korean "yes" follows the polarity of the question, unlike in English. Hence saying "yes" to a negatively stated question means that the negative is true.
South Korean reading of various Chinese characters in isolation or as the first element of a compound, and also the reading in most dialects in 1945, excluding Pyongan and Yukjin, where they are pronounced in this position as 네(ne) in Pyongan or as 녜(nye) in Yukjin.
From Middle Korean례 (Yale: lyey). When preceded by another character in a compound, they retain the original 례(rye) form.
In the North Korean standard, they are always read as 례(rye), but this is an artificial imposition intended to standardize Sino-Korean readings, which did not reflect any major dialect's pronunciation in 1945.