kangmi | A 한자 question

A 한자 question

What’s the difference in meaning between 韓 and 國?

Posted by kangmi on May 2, 2005 at 8:07 PM3 comments

tanstaafl 02 May, 2005 11:01 PM	Well, 國 is a word that designates country or nation (maybe similar in use to the English word 'land'). for example: 美國 America. 英國 England. 中國 Japan. and 韓 is just part of the name for korea. Exactly where it comes from I'm not sure, my textbook refers to it as 나라이름 한. I found this on the net: Until about 2000-3000 years ago, several ancient kingdoms in northern Korea had the name "Joseon," including Go-Joseon, Wiman Joseon, and Gija Joseon. After the fall of Go-Joseon, some refugees settled in the south. Around the same time, several tribes were established in southern Korea, collectively called the "Three Han" (Samhan; 삼한; 三韓), thus introducing the name "Han."
tanstaafl 03 May, 2005 11:16 PM	oops. 中國 is obviously China and not Japan (日本).
강미 04 May, 2005 10:07 PM MSN: kangmi	Is 韓 used only when referring to Korea?