Top Qs
Timeline
Chat
Perspective
Mahan language
Presumed language of the anciant Mahan confederency From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Remove ads
Mahan is the presumed ancient language of the Mahan confederacy in southern Korea. It is virtually unattested.
Remove ads
Denomination
This language can be referred to as Mahan,[3] Han-Paekche,[4] Old Paekche,[5] Japanese Paekche[6] or Aristocratic Paekche.[7]
Some believe that the Mahan can be subdivided into two periods:[2]
- Mahan (literal): From the 1st to 4th centuries AD;
- Mahan Paekche: From the 4th to 7th centuries AD
Ki-Moon Lee assumes that this is just Baekje with a substrate of Buyeo language.[8][1] This is different to Martine Robbeets, who believes that Mahan Paekche is separate from the Baekje and Buyeo language.[2]
Remove ads
Classification
From Chinese texts, Lee and Ramsey separate the languages of the Dong Yi into three groups:[9]
- The Suksin languages (or Suksinic[10]): Suksin, Umnu, Mulgil and Malgal. They perhaps could have been Tungusic[3]
- The Puyŏ languages: Buyeo, Goguryeo, Okjeo and Ye-Maek;
- The Han languages: Chinhan (became Silla), Byeonhan (became Gaya), Mahan (became Baekje).
They consider the Puyŏ languages and Han languages as a part of the same family.[11]
However, this language connection is not accepted by everyone. Furthermore, some consider it a Koreanic languages,[12] while others believe it is a Peninsular Japonic language.[13]
Alexander Vovin notes that the Japonic-origin toponyms of Samguk Sagi are mainly concentrated in the Han River basin's region, formerly part of Baekje and later annexed by Goguryeo. Furthermore, he finds that Mahan is very similar to pseudo-Goguryeo, so he concludes that such a differentiation may be artificial.[14]
Soo-Hee Toh, while taking toponyms into account, hypothesizes that Mahan, Ye-Maek and Gaya were the same language.[15]
Remove ads
Lexical comparison
Vovin, who supports a Japonic origin for Mahan, compares words from this language to words from islander Japonic.[16]
See also
References
Wikiwand - on
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Remove ads