한글고전을 통해 본 선비의 의미 변화 고찰

Abstract

In this paper, we first compared the use of the word ‘Seon-bi’ in the Korean translation classic of the Joseon Dynasty with the uses of ‘儒’ and ‘士’ in their original Chinese characters to find out the difference. Prior to the 16th century, ‘Seon-bi’ were referred to as scholars studying Confucianism or strategists with literary and martial arts skills, and in the Chinese language, it was mainly called '儒'. On the other hand, '士' was used as a word for a Confucian scholar and a member of the royal court or low aristocratic class. After the 16th century, the meaning of ‘Seon-bi’ changed somewhat, and it was used as a term to refer to a person who realized the value of Confucianism, such as defending the national crisis or performing righteous acts, as a Confucian scholar without a position. It was written as '士' or '士人'. However, from the 18th to the 19th centuries, there was a phenomenon in which both '儒' and '士' were still written as ‘Seon-bi’ while translating Chinese Confucian scriptures as well as Korean literature, causing a lot of confusion about the meaning of ‘Seon-bi’. Therefore, when looking at the ancient Chinese texts, ‘士’ should not be understood unconditionally as a ‘Seon-bi’, and when discussing Korean ‘Seon-bi’ spirit, we should not confuse the Chinese character ‘士’ with the Chinese word ‘士’, which means the management of the low aristocratic class or the court, in the Joseon Dynasty.