Middle Korean

Middle Korean
old printed book with Hangul letters and Hanja annotations
"Songs of the Moon Shining on a Thousand Rivers" (Worin Cheongang Jigok, 1447), a collection of Buddhist hymns composed by King Sejong
RegionKorea
Era11th–16th centuries
Koreanic
  • Middle Korean
Early forms
Hanja (Idu, Hyangchal, Gugyeol), Hangul
Language codes
ISO 639-3okm
okm
Glottologmidd1372
Korean name
Hangul
중세 한국어
Hanja
中世韓國語
Revised RomanizationJungse hangugeo
McCune–ReischauerChungse han'gugŏ
North Korean name
Hangul
중세 조선어
Hanja
中世朝鮮語
Revised RomanizationJungse joseoneo
McCune–ReischauerChungse chosŏnŏ

Middle Korean is the period in the history of the Korean language succeeding Old Korean and yielding in 1600 to the Modern period. The boundary between the Old and Middle periods is traditionally identified with the establishment of Goryeo in 918, but some scholars have argued for the time of the Mongol invasions of Korea (mid-13th century). Middle Korean is often divided into Early and Late periods corresponding to Goryeo (until 1392) and Joseon respectively. It is difficult to extract linguistic information from texts of the Early period, which are written using adaptations of Chinese characters. The situation was transformed in 1446 by the introduction of the Hangul alphabet, so that Late Middle Korean provides the pivotal data for the history of Korean.