A new interpretation of the Tangun myth: a story

of bears, kings and shamans

[All references used in this document are listed in the last page]
Have you never realised the peculiar fact that China had many native appellations to refer to
itself, such as Japan with Yamato, whereas the Korean peninsula would refer as “Hanguk [韓
國]” or “Joseon [朝鮮]”, which seem to be two non-native appellations?

We will here examine through the prism of different domains and a holistic approach, the
origins of the last appellation and show that it does not seem to convey the ancient native
name of the peninsula’s first dynasty.

Wars and vicissitudes of time have made us lose precious history documents which could
have recounted the written past of the Korean peninsula, including the five following records:

“Ancient Records of the Eastern Sea (해동고기 | 海東古記)”;

“Ancient Records (고기 | 古記)”;

“Ancient Records of the Chinese Commanderies (삼한고기 | 三韓古記)”;

“Ancient Records of our Country (본국고기 | 本國古記)”;

“Ancient Records of Shilla (신라고기 | 新羅古記)”

In order to understand the past of the peninsula and its myths, we now have to use different
domains and languages to shed light upon this lost fragment of the Korean history.

The reader shall find below the first mythological mention of the kingdom of Gojoseon, the
most ancient of the Korean peninsula, that is included in the “Memorabilia of the Three
Kingdoms (Samguk yusa | 三國遺事)” (1310), one of the first history books of the peninsula
and which was written at the end of the Goryeo period (918 à 1392).

It narrates the history of Tangun, and has often been used to legitimise the ancient power of
divine kings of the peninsula. (Author’s translation):

昔有桓因庶子桓雄。數意天下。貪求人世。父知子意。下視三危太伯可以弘益人間。
乃授天符印三箇。遣往理之。雄率徒三千。降於太伯山頂。 神壇樹下。謂之神市。是
謂桓雄天王也。將風伯雨師雲師。而主穀主命主病主刑主善惡。凡主人間三百六十餘
事。在世理化。時有一熊一虎。同穴而居。常祈于神雄。願化為人。時神遺靈艾一炷。
蒜二十枚曰。爾輩食之。不見日光百日。便得人形。熊虎得而食之。忌三七日。熊得
女身。虎不能忌。而不得人身。熊女者無與為婚。故每於壇樹下咒願有孕。雄乃假化
而婚之。孕生子。號曰壇君王儉。 以唐高即位五十年庚寅都平壤城始稱朝鮮。又移都
於白岳山阿斯達。又名弓忽山。又今彌達。御國一千五百年。周虎王即位己卯封箕子
於朝鮮。壇君乃移於藏唐京。 後還隱於阿斯達為山神。壽一千九百八歲。[…]

Once upon a time there was Hwanung, the true son of Hwanin (the sky god). The said son
wanted to descend upon earth to save the human world. His father knew his desire and gave
him three divine seals that could allow him to save the world.

Hwanung led a troop of three thousand men and descended under the divine tree at the
summit of mount Taebek 1); he called this place “shinsi (sacred city)” and was thereupon
intronised king. He took under his wing the gods of wind, rain and clouds; and assigned about
three hundred and sixty men the tasks of grain (agriculture), order (leading), illness (doctor),
punishment (justice), but also of good and bad (morale) to rule this world.

There was a bear and a tiger whom lived in the same den and they oftentimes prayed the
bear-god (Hwanung). The said god gave them a branch of magic mugwort and twenty cloves
of garlic and said: ‘’ If you eat them and abstain yourselves from seeing daylight for hundred
days, you will become human.” The two animal fellows received the presents, ate them and
knew many troubles; however, after twenty one days, the bear became a woman; the tiger
who could not bear such a pain did not became human.

The woman did not have man to betroth and went to the divine tree to ask it to become
pregnant. Hwanung then became temporarily human to marry her; and she bore a child who
became the king Tangun.

During approximately fifty years after the enthronement of Yao of the Xia, in the year
Kyeongin 2), Tangun set a city at Pyeongyang and called it “Joseon”. He then moved it to
Asadal, near Mount Baekak 3), which he called Kunghol-san or Kummyeo-dal. For about 1500
years, he ruled the country; and in the year Kimyeo 4), at the enthronement of the king Mu of
the Zhou 5), he gave Kija 6) the kingdom of Joseon of which he became the kind. Tangun
moved to Jangdanggyeong 7), then he came back to hide in Asadal to become the king of the
mountain at the age of 1908 years. […]

1) Present South Korean mountain

2) Unknown year but probably between 2200 to 1600 BCE
3) Present South Korean mountain
4) Unknown year
5) Possibly at around 1043 BCE
6) Mythical figure whom would have introduced shamanism into the Korean peninsula
7) Unknown place

We can understand, through this very unclear legend that the kingdom of Gojoseon would
have set at around 2333 BCE, even before the legendary Chinese Xia dynasty (-2200 to -
1600), of which we are beginning to retrieve real traces. However, few historical credits
should be given to the dates of this legend, especially since the advent of archaeology, the
tracing of man during the Palaeolithic and the Neolithic in the Korean peninsula.

Linguistically speaking, the term 달 (dal) which can be seen in the mysterious mountain in
the legend, but also the word 왕검 [王儉] (wanggeon), firstly attested in the Chinese
archives of the Wei (魏書) (sixth century AD), seem to be indicating an ancient Korean
pronunciation for two forgotten words, which would respectively mean “mountain” and
“king”.
The contemporary words 양달[陽・] (yangdal) and 음달[陰・] (umdal) both containing 달
(dal) are referring to a “(shady or sunny) place”, and seem to be ancient relics of this ancient
word.

To understand these words and due to the lack of Korean written records, we should recur
to archaic Chinese (2200 to 400 | 300 BCE), where the word 儉 (frugal) was used
phonetically and pronounced /*ɡramʔ/ or /*[ɡ]r[a]mʔ/, which is now transcribed as 검
(keom) (formerly ᄀᆞᆷ (keum)).
Korean being a Transeurasian language whose ancestor, proto-Transeurasian separated at
about 6000 BCE into Proto-Korean-Japanese, then into Proto-Korean and Proto-Japanese at
around 3500 BCE, we can witness the existence of a Transeurasian word to designate a ruler,
or a clan ruler: *”kieon(I)”, which is quoted hereunder.
(The following entry belongs to the author’s proto-language comparison lexicon, compiling
over 200 words (as of August 2020) which bear very close similarities between each other
and whose ancestors seem to reveal the existence of one or several proto-language of
higher ancestry.)
Word Hypothetical Proto- Proto- Proto- Ancient Mandarin Proto- Japanese Korean
proto- Indo- Transeurasian Sino- (2200 BCE Chinese Korean- (from the (from the
language European (10 000 to Tibetan to 300 (from the Japanese nineteenth nineteent
(Proto- (10 000 to 6000 BCE) (10 000 AD) and nineteenth (3500 century) century)
sapiens) 3500 BCE) to medieval century) BCE)
(60 000 to 6000 (300 to
10 000 BCE) 1300 AD)
BCE?) Chinese
189) *”gieon” *genə- *”kieon(i)” *qʷaŋ /*ɢʷaŋ/ 王 [wáng] *”gimu” kimi imgum
kin(g) (kin(g); clan (to bear; (王) or (きみ|君) 임금
(roi ; ruler) to /*ɢʷaŋ/ 君 [jūn]
(king) (leader) (from
chef procreate: /ɦʉɐŋ/ 皇 [huáng]
de kin, king) 님금)
(王) (king)
clan) and (ruler)
*h₃rḗǵs which
probably
(king: roi) comes
related to
from
/*klun/
archaïc
or
Chinese
/*C.qur/
/kɨun/ [任]
/*njɯms/
(君)
/*n[ə]m-s
(ruler)
+
and
/*ɡʷaːŋ/ 검/금
or (ruler, kin
/*[ɢ]ʷˤaŋ/ (archaism
/ɦwɑŋ/
(皇)
(emperor)

The Transeurasian word *”kieon(i)” has probably engendered the Proto-Korean-Japanese

word *”gimu” from which originates 검 or 감 (keom) (formerly ᄀᆞᆷ (keum)) and whose
meaning is “ruler”.
The Three Korean Kingdoms (-57 to 668 AD) words to designate a ruler slightly differ but
they all begin with the same syllable “ga | ka”. Shilla (간 | gan), Gaya (간 | gan), Puyeo (가 |
ga) then Goguryeo (가이 | gai) and finally Baekje (가 | ga), whence ᄀᆞᆷ (keum) whose
pronunciation sways between “a” and “eo”, but also the hesitation between 검 or 감 (keom)
when transcribing the word with the phonetically used sinogram 儉 (frugal).
This word for “ruler” has later evolved to become 님금 (nimgeum) then 임금 (imgeum) but
it seems to have been a Sino-Korean creation this time, as it includes the sinogram [任]
(whom bears the function of) and was pronounced /*njɯms/ or /*n[ə]m-s/ in archaic
 Chinese and /ȵiɪmH/ in medieval Chinese, which corresponds to the Korean pronunciation
of 님 (nim).
We can thus understand the word as “who bears the function of a king”, hence 님 [任] (nim)
+ 금 (geum). The Korean language often nativises words by adding a Korean native word
such as in 가마솥 (kamasot) (cauldron) where 가마 (kama) is a Korean-Japanese word and
솥 (sot) another Korean native word, or else 가마우지 (kamauji) (cormoran) in which we
find 가마 (aquatic bird) and 우지 (鸕鶿) (cormoran) (from medieval Chinese pronunciation:
/luo/ /d͡zɨ/).

As for the word 달, it seems to refer to ancient lowlands such as plains or valleys:

Word Hypothetical Proto- Proto- Proto-Sino- Ancient Mandarin Proto- Japanes Korean
proto- Indo- Transeur Tibetan (2200 Chinese Korean- e (from the
language European asian (10 000 to BCE to (from the Japanese (from nineteent
(Proto- (10 000 (10 000 6000 BCE) 300 AD) nineteent (3500 the h
sapiens) to 3500 to 6000 and h BCE) ninetee century)
(60 000 to BCE) BCE) medieval century) nth
10 000 (300 to century
BCE?) 1300 )
AD)
Chinese
190) *”deol ; *dʰol-, *”tena” *laŋ (浪) /*raːŋ/ 浪 [láng] *”tan” tani dal
valley; teol ; deon ; *dʰel- (glottalisation or (たに| (달)
lowland teol” (hollow; /*[r]ˤaŋ/
(vallée ; valley:
of “t/d” into
/lɑŋ/ 谷) (valley;
“l/ r”) mount)
terre dale) (valley)
(water; (浪) (Ancient
basse ;
ravine; Koguryeo
ravin)
valley) -
(archaism) Gojoseon
to associate word)
to
豅 (large
valley)
/*roːŋ/ [lóng]

As for the word 조선[朝鮮] (Joseon), which is now legitimately used by North Korea to
designate itself, as the first Gojoseon capital was Pyeongyang, it also seems a sinicised relic
of a Gojoseon word, pronounced as /ʈˠiᴇu siᴇn/ in medieval Chinese.
It has probably been sinicised through the sinograms 朝鮮 which mean “morning (朝)” and
“ fresh (鮮)”, and cannot mean “calm morning”, which is an erroneous appellation used by
poorly-informed media.
The sinogram 鮮 (fresh) has always been composed, since its most ancient bronze form, of a
fish (魚) and a sheep (羊), which were formerly delicacies and needed a great freshness to
be delicious.
The word seems to be a Chinese nativisation of the word asadal (sun mountain) as attested
in the “Samguk yousa” via the now lost “Ancient Records (고기 | 古記)”. The archaic
Chinese reading of 朝鮮 /*t<r>aw [s][a]r/ being too far-related to Joseon, we can surmise
that /ʈˠiᴇu siᴇn/ was the Chinese medieval fashion to refer to the Korean peninsula. This
pronunciation corresponds to the Chinese invasions of the peninsula and to the Han colonies
period.

As for the name of the dynasty itself, there exist many conjectures about it, beginning by the
additional notes of the Historical Chronicles (史記) written by Sima Qian of the Han, and
written around the third century AD. Chinese historians of the Southern dynasties indicate
that the name of Joseon seem to be an association of the three rivers of the Gwanseo region
(North-West of the peninsula), including Pyeongyang. Later commentators of the Tang
period (608 à 918 AD) indicate that the sinograms 朝 (morning) and 鮮 (fresh) are semi-
phonetics and that the first one would rather correspond to 潮 (tide) which refers to the
morning tide, whence the meaning of morning, marine breeze and fresh waters of the region
rivers as well as their mouths.
As for the second sinogram, it seems to designate the Nakdong river, which was probably
referred with a local pronunciation that would resemble (선 | seon), and which crosses the
whole peninsula on about 500 kilometres, beginning from mount Taebaek, as quoted in the
legend.
Notwithstanding the text ambiguity, these places seem to be corroborated by the sacred
mountain name Taebaek then Baekak, two mountains of the South-Center of the peninsula
which probably once belong to the territory of Gojoseon. The kingdom would have
progressively spread and could have moved its capital or its power therein, when it was
assailed by Korean tribes or the Chinese Hans, before it utterly declined.

These two sinograms of the Chinese archives (朝鮮), such as the ones for Japan explained in
another article, both seem to associate the ancient lands of Gojoseon to the “Sun rising on
the East”, consequently “earlier” than the Chinese sun in ancient beliefs, and seemed more
“advanced”, thus of a greater “freshness”, whence the sinogram for “fresh”. We could also
think of the Gojoseon word for “king” which is composed of a phonetic and a semantic
sinogram; the sinicised construction seems rather similar.

We should moreover remind the reader that Mount Asadal is a phonetic transcription of
archaic Korean, and also seems to be referring to the morning. This word comes from Proto-
Transeurasian then Proto-Korean-Japanese, from the root atsxam or asam.
 This ancient root yielded asa in Japanese and achim in Korean, probably through the
kingdom of Goguryeo then Baekje which were located upon the ancient lands of Gojoseon.

We shall observe hereunder, the complete etymology of the word “morning”:

Word Hypothetic Proto- Proto- Proto-Sino- Ancient Mandarin Proto- Japanese Korean
al proto- Indo- Transeura Tibetan (2200 Chinese Korean- (from (from th
language European sian (10 000 to BCE to (from the Japanes the ninetee
(Proto- (10 000 to (10 000 to 6000 BCE) 300 AD) nineteent e (3500 nineteen century
sapiens) 3500 BCE) 6000 BCE) and h century) BCE) th
(60 000 to medieval century)
10 000 (300 to
BCE ?) 1300 AD)
Chinese
191) *”(h)es; *h₂ews- *”eca; *tăk /*djas/ 曙 [shǔ] *”ache asa 아침
morning, (h)as” (dawn, esa“ (曙) (light “t /dʑ͡ ɨʌH/ om; (あさ| (achim)
aurora east: (曙) acham”
(matin, aurore, (Initial
“) 朝) (mornin
cognate with (dawn)
aurore) aurora) consonant (morning
*t(i)ă(H) ( /
loss in )
*taj(H))
Transeura
sian) 赭 (ochre)
and
*cǝ̆ɫ
(縉) (red silk)
and
*căk (red
metal)
(which refer
to the sunrise
read glowing)

Linguistically speaking, we could consequently conjecture that, notwithstanding the relative

randomness of the places mentioned in the legend, the word “morning” seems to reveal a
crucial hint about the ancient name of one of the first kingdoms of the peninsula.
The ancient pronunciation however seems to have been forgotten, even in the oldest
records of the “Samguk-saki” and “Samguk-yusa” written during the Goryeo period.
The first mention of the etymology of Gojoseon, amongst the extant documents, seem to go
back to the Joseon period (1392 to 1900) and the 《신증동국여지승람| 新增東國輿地勝
覽》. This ancient geography book written in 1530 also denotes, under obvious Chinese
influence, Gojoseon as a land which lay at the East, and where the sun rose. The sun would
there cast its rays very early in the morning, and we could relate it to some freshness due to
the Northern and mountainous location of the Korean peninsula, where temperature can
often drop below zero.

The ancient word 달 (dal) which refers to a mountain or a high place was transmitted to
Goguryeo before being forgotten and seems to be showing an ancient indication about the
kingdom of Gojoseon, which we could interpret as the “kingdom of the vivid sun” or the
“kingdom of the sun mountain”. All of these appellations seem more plausible than “land of
the fresh morning” which seems very uncertainly sinicised.
The reconstruction of the word Joseon as it would really be pronounced formerly should
probably be “acheomdal”((kingdom) of the sun mountain) or 아침달 (achimdal) in modern
Korean.
The ancient Chinese pronunciation has however been the only one reaching us, due to the
cruel lack of archives of the Korean peninsula that would attest the native word, because of
the potent influence of China upon the peninsula, but especially because of the low
importance granted to native words compared to Sino-Korean word.
At the beginning of the fifth century AD the king Jijung (지증왕) unified toponyms and
replaced the native word for “king” 님금 (imgeum) by 왕 [王] (wang), its Chinese homonym
which probably was more glorious.

Archaeology and history will now reveal us interesting coincidences, setting the beginning of
the first fortified Korean cities and their probable elite around the seven or fifth century BCE,
in the city of Pyeongyang, in present North Korea, which will then become the capital of the
Goguryeo kingdom during the Three Kingdoms period.

Korean peninsula had entered Bronze Age at around 1000 BCE under Chinese influence and
its power had begun to rise from this period onwards. We can witness the appearance of the
first cities during Iron Age at 400 BCE. We could thus surmise that the kingdom of Gojoseon
at the end of the Neolithic period of Mumum was located at Pyeongyang.
Nevertheless, the said kingdom would not have been able to triumph the Chinese Warring
States attacks and would have fall at the second century BCE, because of its technological
disadvantage and its smaller number. This kingdom would then have been influenced by
China, probably with the transmission of oracle script divination, before it arrived to Japan.

Some archaeological sites have allowed us to unearth ancient bronze swords that attest
former warfare. We should not forget to mention Korean dolmens that seem to have been
erected as a warning sign to invaders; or else the amount of prestigious figures’ tombs that
gather near the Taedong river.
The kingdom of Gojoseon seemed to be formerly surrounded by many small tribes and its
power to extent from the Liaodong basin to the borders of North Korea, while being
enrooted in Pyeongyang. This grants great credit to believe that Goguryeo is its legitimate
heir, with a few dozens of years, or even a century of historic void, because of potential
conflicts between tribes or the potent influence of the state of Yan or the Hans.
 A history of shamanism and bear cult

Some researchers presume that the end of Neolithic was the dawn of Korean shamanism,
probably predicted by the Chinese Shang dynasty (1600 to 1046 BCE) and Zhou dynasty
(1046 to 222 BCE). Shamans, whom mostly were women of these dynasties did perform
divinatory rituals that implied animal bones such as turtle shells or ox scapulae, and were
intimately related to oracle script, one of the most ancient forms of Chinese writing.
It seemed also probable that these shamanesses wore black bear skins during their rituals.
At around 1000 BCE, the Shang dynasty seems to have transmitted this practice to the
Korean Mumun civilization (1450 to 500 BCE) alongside the bear worship culture. These two
practices were conveyed later to Japan, as explained hereunder.

In order to understand this tripartite cultural legacy, we should remind the reader that the
first recorded Japanese empress was Himiko, whom ruled the Land of Wa, and also seemed
to practice an ancient form of divination as attested in Chinese records.
We shall quote here “Three Kingdom Chronicles (三國志)”, in the section “Eastern
Barbarians chronicles (東夷傳)” which were written at the third century AD during the
North-South Chinese dynasties:

[…] 輒灼骨而卜，以占吉凶，先告所卜，其辭如令龜法，視火坼占兆。[…]

[…] Oftentimes did she burn bones for divination then would she interpret bad or good
omen before announcing it: these practices resembled oracle script divination*, where one
would observe fire crackle [animal bones] and determine omens [...]

*We are referring here to the “turtle method 龜法”, which is no other than the oracle bone
divination. As for the turtle that were sacrificed for these rituals, we would think of the
Japanese turtle nihon ishi-gamé (ニホンイシガメ), an endemic species of the South-Eastern
regions of Japanese Shikoku island or Kyûshû, but also of the small yet transitional islands of
Tsushima and Iki, where probably lied a part of the mythical but fragmented land of Wa,
ruled by Himiko, the Japanese empress.

Turtle did not feature amongst Jômon man or Yayoi people food habits, as we only find few
bones amongst Neolithic shell mounds. Several archaeological sites can testimony of
sinogram carved in turtle shells, and we will thus surmise that this divination method rather
originates from the Chinese Shang dynasty which involuntarily introduced it into Japan
through the Korean peninsula. This transition once more demonstrates that culture and
languages are conveyed throughout several centuries.
 The archaeological sites of Hara no tsuji and Karakami located on the small Japanese island
Iki have allowed to discover boar and deer bones, and even dolphin bones in certain sites
that were all used for divinatory purposes and strongly reminded the Shang dynasty identical
practice.

Shamanism did not however seem to root as profoundly as on the Korean peninsula, but
bear cult has remained in Ainu culture, the continuation of the Jômon culture.
Bear cult can be traced back to Okhotsk culture which approximately dates from 300 to 1000
AD, and also corresponds to the rise of the Yamato kingdom (300 to 900 AD) and the exodus
of Jômon men to Hokkaido (Ezo).

We shall hereunder observe the complete etymology of the word “bear”:

Word Hypothetical Proto- Proto- Proto- Ancient Mandarin Proto- Japanes Korean
proto- Indo- Transeurasian Sino- (2200 BCE Chinese Korean- e (from the
language European (10 000 to Tibetan to 300 AD) (from the Japanese (from nineteent
(Proto- (10 000 6000 BCE) (10 000 to and nineteent (3500 the century)
sapiens) to 3500 6000 BCE) medieval h century) BCE) ninetee
(60 000 to BCE) (300 to nth
10 000 1300 AD) century
BCE?) Chinese )
188) *”dwam ; *h₂ŕ̥tḱos *”kiam(u)” *d-wam /*ɢʷlɯm/ 熊 [xióng] *”keoma kuma kom
bear dweom” (bear: (熊) or
(black
” (くま| 곰
(ours) (black bear; (Indo- (Seems to be /*C.[ɢ]ʷ(r)
Asian black European an ancient
(black
əm/
bear
to 熊) (bear;
bear; (nowadays god)
bear) creation) borrowing of /ɦɨuŋ/ associate (bear))
Tibetan also refers
and ) archaic (熊) to
black to brown linked to
*”berh ; and Chinese, as 神 (kami
pra(h)” *bʰerH- bear cult
bear) and bear)) 고맙다
(brown: (brown: seems to
cognate /*pral/ 羆 [pí] |かみ) (god
brown bear) bear) have spread with 雄 or (brown (god) offering;
/*praj/
from Sino- (male, bear) and to form of
/pˠiᴇ/
Tibetan powerful, the bear respect)
peoples to bear) (羆) cult. The
Korean and strict
peoples 羆 (brown meaning
alongside of god
bear)
shamanism seems to
(possible
then into have
borrowing
Ainu culture been lost
from
with the in
Indo-
arrival of Korean
European)
Mumum where
men.) “bear”
remaine
d.
 The Transeurasian word for “bear” (but rather Proto-Korean-Japanese) does not seem to be
Transeurasian nor derivate from Sino-Tibetan but it rather seems to be a borrowing from
archaic Chinese /*ɢʷlɯm/ or /*C.[ɢ]ʷ(r)əm/ transcribed as 검 or 감 (keom) (formerly ᄀᆞᆷ
(keum)). We shall here observe a cognate with the above-mentioned word for “king” and
the archaic Chinese word 雄 (male (human, animal); powerful) /*ɡʷɯŋ/ or /*[ɢ]ʷəŋ/ which
refers, in archaic Chinese, to a powerful person and that is pronounced ung (웅) in Korean.
This sinogram is precisely the one that is used in the name of Hwanung 桓雄, the father of
the king Tangun, the founder and king of Gojoseon.
So as to attest more precisely of this cult, we should emphasise that the word for “god”
seems to have been forgotten since its Transeurasian root, probably due to shamanism, and
the cult of bear, as this word meant “bear” but also “god”. In modern Korean, the term
“bear” only harbours one meaning, but in the Ainu language “kamuy” means “bear” as well
as “god”.

We shall observe the intertwined etymology of “god” hereunder:

Word Hypothetical Proto- Proto- Proto- Ancient Mandarin Proto- Japanese Korean
proto- Indo- Transeurasian Sino- (2200 Chinese Korean- (from the (from t
language European (10 000 to Tibetan BCE to (from the Japanese nineteenth ninetee
(Proto- (10 000 6000 BCE) (10 000 300 AD) nineteenth (3500 century) century
sapiens) to 3500 to 6000 and century) BCE)
(60 000 to BCE) BCE) medieval
10 000 (300 to
BCE?) 1300 AD)
Chinese
192) *”tey; dew” *deywós *”djaba; *tē or /*teːɡs/ 帝 [dì] *“jwob” yobu kom
god; (god; to (god) ǯiaba” *teɣ or and (よぶ|呼 곰
divinity; invoke) and (to invoke; to (帝) /*tˤek-s/ *“keom ;
to and *ǵʰewH- call) /teiH/ keum” ぶ) (bear; g
(god;
summon *”gweh; (to and (to call)
divinity) (帝) 신 [神]
(dieu, giem” invoke, *”kiamo” and
and and
invoquer) (to invoke; to call: (deity; spirit) kami (god)
(召) /*dews/
god) god) (かみ|神) Being a
or
or (招) /*[d]raw- archaic
(deity;
Chines
(to s/ god)
creatio
invoke; /ɖˠiᴇuH/
that wa
to call)
(召) transm
into
Korean
Bear cult development (2200 to 200 BCE), Shamanism in China (2200 to 1000 BCE), word
linguistics and etymology (1600 BCE to 400 AC) and archaeology (-700 to -400 BCE) yield the
approximate date of 1000 to 400 BCE for the transmission of shamanism into the Korean
peninsula, bear cult (and the replacement of the Japanese and Korean word for “bear”), the
(non-mythical) foundation of Gojoseon and the very probably origin of the legend conveyed
by the “Samguk yousa” via “Ancient Records (고기 | 古記)”, the lost archives.
This seems to correspond with the first fortified cities of Gojoseon, the archaic Chinese
pronunciation and the development of shamanism.

The word “Joseon [朝鮮 | 조선]” consequently seems to be a sinicised word that comes
from the ancient yet probable appellation of the Gojoseon kingdom “acheomdal” ((kindgom
of the) mountain sun » that ancient Chinese people could not pronounce and thus probably
sinicised for their records.
The almost total absence of this appellation in Korean records, for the above-mentioned
historical reasons, and the prominent influence of China upon the Korean peninsula seem to
testify that the word was lost after the fall of the Gojoseon kingdom (approximately 200
BCE).
The ancient native word for “king” 검 or 감 (keom) (formerly ᄀᆞᆷ (keum)) has however
lingered and become 님금 (nimgeum) then 임금 (imgeum) that we can still find in the polite
suffix 님, if we completely omit the long-lost meaning of the first sinogram [任] which seems
to come from the archaic or medieval Chinese pronunciation.
Bear cult and shamanism occupy a very important place in Korean culture, consequently the
word “bear” also seemed to harbour the meaning of “god”, whence the absence of this
word in modern Korean and the Chinese borrowing for “god”, probably during the Chinese
colony period in the peninsula.
The powerful of Gojoseon seemed to practise shamanism and bear was considered as a
fierce animal, and strong synonym of power.
 References

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https://stedt.berkeley.edu/~stedt-cgi/rootcanal.pl

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