And so the virtuous cycle goes.
This wise saying is literally carved in stones outside Kyobo Bookstore’s flagship location at the southern end of Gwanghwamun Plaza in Seoul. Kyoto Books was founded in 1980 and currently has ten stores in seven South Korean cities.
The lovely picture above was taken by a dear “older sister” (onni), Mel, during her latest visit to the Land of the Morning Calm this past April.
And now, for a brief Hangeul revision, decomposing and re-assembling the characters and their romanized equivalents into syllables, remembering that an “ㅇ” at the beginning of a character group is silent:
*****
ㅅ + ㅏ = 사 = s + a = sa
ㄹ + ㅏ + ㅁ = 람 = r + a + m = ram –> saram = people
ㅇ + ㅡ + ㄴ = 은 = eu + n = eun (topic marker) –> saram+eun = people (topic)
*****
ㅊ + ㅐ + ㄱ = 책 = ch + ae + k = chaek –> chaek = books
ㅇ + ㅡ + ㄹ = 을 = eu + l = eul (object marker) –> chaek+eul = books (object)
*****
ㅁ + ㅏ + ㄴ = 만 = m + a + n = man
ㄷ + ㅡ + ㄹ = 들 = d + eu + l = deul –> mandeul = create/make (verb)
ㄱ + ㅗ = 고 = k + o = ko –> ko = and
*****
ㅊ + ㅐ + ㄱ = 책 = ch + ae + k = chaek –> chaek = books
ㅇ + ㅡ + ㄴ = 은 = eu + n = eun (topic marker) –> chaek+eun = books (topic)
*****
ㅅ + ㅏ = 사 = s + a = sa
ㄹ + ㅏ + ㅁ = 람 = r + a + m = ram –> saram = people
ㅇ + ㅡ + ㄹ = 을 = eu + l = eul (object marker) –> saram+eul = people (object)
*****
ㅁ + ㅏ + ㄴ = 만 = m + a + n = man
ㄷ + ㅡ + ㄴ = 든 = d + eu + n = deun
ㄷ + ㅏ = 다 = d + a = da –> mandeunda = create/make (verb)
*****
Thanks for the picture and double thanks for helping me with the Hangeul/English, mel-onni!
p.s.: Gwanghwamun Plaza honours two of Korea’s greats. One of them is King Sejong the Great, credited with commanding the scholars of the day to devise Hangeul, a phonetic script that the average person could learn in a day, in contrast to Hanja, which takes many years of study to master.
Point of View / Josée Sigouin 