구르다

First attested in the Seokbo sangjeol (釋譜詳節 / 석보상절), 1447, as Middle Korean 그울다〮 (Yale: kùwùl-tá). Also attested in the Worin seokbo (月印釋譜 / 월인석보), 1459, as Middle Korean 구울다〮 (Yale: kwùwùl-tá).

Ultimately from pre-Middle Korean <*kùpùl(úl)-> or <*kwùpùl(úl)-> (Vovin 2010, p. 157), which seems to be a compound, though likely no longer analyzable. Conservative dialects in southeastern Korea still preserve the /-p-/ in this word. Perhaps related to the ideophone 구불구불 (gubulgubul, “meanderingly”), and perhaps also to 굽다 (gupda, “to be curved”), in the sense that curved things (e.g. wheels) roll.

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

구르다 • (gureuda) (infinitive 굴러, sequential 구르니)

1. (transitive or intransitive) to roll, to roll over

• 굴다 (gulda) (contraction)

First attested in the Seokbo sangjeol (釋譜詳節 / 석보상절), 1447, as Middle Korean 구르〮다〮 (Yale: kwùlú-tá).

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key):
• Phonetic hangul:
  • Though still prescribed in Standard Korean, most speakers in both Koreas no longer distinguish vowel length.

구르다 • (gureuda) (infinitive 굴러, sequential 구르니)

1. (transitive) to stamp, to pound (one's feet)

   발을 동동 구르다 ― bar-eul dongdong gureuda ― to stamp one's feet nervously