Collected Essays 8: Daehan Minguk, the Republic of Korea

By Kim Dong-ryul · Original publication: June 28, 2025

English translation · Original: https://gujoron.com/xe/notice/1728660

It would be a serious problem if not a single person in this country knew why Daehan Minguk is called Daehan Minguk. Some say that han means “great,” so the name means “great-great people's country.” Others say that, because Japan called itself the Great Japanese Empire and Britain the British Empire, we matched the rhythm as a fellow empire. Most of this is nonsense.

It was the Provisional Government that changed “empire” to “republic.” Han (韓) was the name chosen by Emperor Gojong. From ancient times, chiefs were called han (汗, Han) or gahan (可汗, Khahan). Gahan is a Xianbei and Turkic term, related to the ga (加, Kha) of Buyeo and Goguryeo and the gan (干, Khan) of Silla. Add the honorific ji and it becomes ganji (干支); in Gaya it was han-gi (旱岐). In Gyeongsang dialect, gim becomes jim and gimchi becomes jimchi, so han-gi would have been pronounced han-ji.

The word was widely used among northern peoples: Mongolian khan (хаан), Turkish kağan, Persian khāqān, and so on. Why add dae, “great”? China used the names Great Sui, Great Tang, Great Song, Great Yuan, Great Ming, and Great Qing. Because a Chinese country's name had one syllable, dae was prefixed to identify it as a state. Say only Sui, Tang, Song, Ming, Yuan, or Qing, and the meaning is ambiguous.

Yulgok's given name was I. Say only “I,” and no one knows whether you mean the number two or a louse. He needs a two-syllable appellation; Yulgok works well. Call Master Toegye merely “Hwang” and he would be offended. Within the Chinese cultural order, a personal name was supposed to have a single syllable.

Old Chinese was monosyllabic, so it had no two-syllable names. A two-syllable name indicated a peripheral vassal state; three syllables indicated barbarians outside regular contact. Wang Mang prohibited two-character personal names. Single-character names produced many duplicates, however, and gradually gave way to two-character names. Joseon's kings were expected to have single-character given names: Sejong was Yi Do, Yeongjo was Yi Geum, and Jeongjo was Yi San.

Yi Seong-gye, Yi Bang-gwa, and Yi Bang-won had two-character names because they already bore them before becoming kings. Danjong, Yi Hong-wi, was the sole exception. Gojong changed his name from Yi Jae-hwang to Yi Hyeong. Finding unique single-character names is difficult. People surnamed Heo still often insist on them: Heo Jae, Heo Gyun, and so forth.

Barbarians were given three-syllable names. France, England, Portugal, Russia, and Italy became Bullanseo, Yeonggilli, Podoa, Arasa, and Itaeri because the Chinese intended to distinguish barbarians with whom they could not associate. America was Mirigyeon (美利堅). Two-syllable names—Joseon, Japan, Vietnam, Jurchen, Tibet—denoted subordinate countries around the Chinese center.

Japan originally called itself Great Wa, challenging the Chinese order. By taking the two-character name Japan, it lowered its rank and entered the China-centered international system. Following the naming pattern Great Tang, Great Yuan, Great Ming, and Great Qing, Daehan Minguk is “Daehan.” When not comparing it with other countries, Daehan is the proper name.

Either use Hanguk, Jungguk, Ilguk, Miguk, and Yeongguk, or Daehan, Zhonghua, Japan, America, and England. Of course, modern society need not fuss over such details. Yet they have sometimes mattered. Vietnam originally wanted the name Nam Viet. Nam, “south,” would have been a modifier and Viet the proper name.

It could then have called itself Great Viet, opposite Great Qing. There would be two countries claiming the center of the Chinese world. “What? Are you challenging us?” That could not be allowed, so it became Viet Nam. Great Viet was unacceptable; “Great South” was laughable; “Great Viet Nam” was awkward. Viet Nam was therefore an acceptable state name.

It is sad if no one in Daehan knows why it is called Daehan. Let us learn something. In ancient times, the Korean Peninsula had the Maek, Ye, and Han peoples: Maek referred to Goguryeo, Ye to the east coast, and Han to the Three Han. The Gwanggaeto Stele suggests that Maek, Ye, and Han shared a sense of belonging to the same people.

Han (韓) is khan, and khan shares its origin with king. King has an Indo-European root meaning a branch or genus: a lineage branching from an ancestor, like the twelve tribes of Israel. It is the same as the ger of Germanic and leads to the meanings chief and gyeore, “people.” It also underlies gentleman. Genesis has the same root and is another derivative.

The original article includes this AI summary:

“King” comes from Old English cyning, derived from Proto-Germanic kuningaz. The root kun, meaning lineage, combines with -ing, a ruler suffix, to mean a person or leader from a noble lineage.

If king derives from kun, we can see that the Chinese words gun (君, ruler) and guk (國, country) branched from the same root.

Daehan Minguk is a people's country of a great lineage: a great branch, a great main family, a great noble house, or a great legitimate tradition. “Gentle” refers to the eldest son who inherits the family line. Min (民) is the Chinese word; in plain language it means “people.” Unlike an empire, kingdom, city-state, duchy, or county, a minguk is a country of people, not a country of a ruler. Han, khan, and king originate in a branch descended from an ancestor, with their meanings expanding to main family, bloodline, nobility, and legitimacy.

Proto-Indo-European had the same word order as Korean. English word order was established later.

Error 1: Han means “great,” so our country's name is “great-great people's country.”

Error 2: The name Daehan arose to match the rhythm of the British Empire, Great Japanese Empire, and Great Korean Empire.

Truth 1: Chinese is monosyllabic and uses single-character names, adding dae when naming a country. The country's name is Han, meaning a king or a people—a branch descended from an ancestor. Dae identifies it as a state, producing Daehan, as in Great Tang, Great Song, Great Ming, Great Qing, and Great Wa.

Truth 2: The name is Han, and it is called Daehan with dae prefixed. In The True Story of Ah Q, the name is Q and Ah is added when addressing him. Koreans call Cheol “Cheol-a”; in Chinese this becomes “Ah Cheol.”

Truth 3: The center uses a one-character name, peripheral vassal states two characters, and barbarians outside regular contact three.