National Institute of Cultural Heritage Organizes 6,759 Homophonous and Homonymous but Graphically Different Chinese Characters
(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Kim Ye-na = The National Institute of Cultural Heritage announced on the 23rd that it has published the “Dictionary of Different Forms of Chinese Characters Used in Epitaphs of Korean Great Monks.”
Different forms of Chinese characters (Icheja) are those that have the same pronunciation and meaning but are written differently.
These variations may involve simplifying certain strokes or slightly altering the conventional forms of Chinese characters, providing important insights into the historical usage patterns of written language.
The recently published dictionary is divided into two volumes: the Ancient and Goryeo Periods volume, and the Joseon Period volume.
It organizes and presents different forms of characters found on epitaphs created to commemorate monks who achieved significant accomplishments during different eras, providing rubbings or photographs of the calligraphic examples.
For instance, the character for “Buddha” (佛) appears differently in the inscription on the tombstone of Jeonggak Seungtong from the Goryeo period compared to the one inscribed on the Stele of Unpa Daesa from the Joseon period.
It contains information on 3,076 characters from the ancient and Goryeo periods and 3,683 characters from the Joseon period.
The dictionary will be distributed to national and public libraries, museums, and research institutions.
It is also available on the “National Heritage Knowledge Portal” website operated by the National Institute of Cultural Heritage (https://portal.nrich.go.kr/).
yes@yna.co.kr