[A Sip of a Book] Why "Dinosaur" Became a "Fearful Dragon" Instead of a "Fearfully Great Lizard"

Editor's NoteSome sentences encapsulate the entire content of a book, while others instantly resonate with readers and create a point of connection with the book. Here, we introduce such meaningful sentences excerpted from various books.

This article explores how the vocabulary we use today was created, how similar words survived through competition, and how these surviving terms have influenced the thought systems and worldviews of modern people. The word "dinosaur" is one such example. The English word "dinosaur" means "fearfully great lizard." However, in Chinese characters, the term means "fearful dragon." The word "sauros" was translated as "dragon," and the character "gong (恐)," meaning "fearful," was added in front to create the new term "gongnyong" (dinosaur). The book delves into the main currents of science and thought, focusing on 17 scientific terms.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the English word "science" (from French "science") appeared as early as the mid-14th century. However, at that time, the meaning of the word was far from what we understand as science today. Like the Latin "scientia," it simply meant "knowledge" or "knowing in general." If we look for words in the literature of that period that are closer to our modern understanding of science, it was not "science" in English or "scientia" in Latin, but rather "natural philosophy" ("philosophiæ naturalis"). Those engaged in such inquiry were called "natural philosophers," "virtuosos," or "savants." For example, Isaac Newton wrote his famous Latin treatise in 1687, "Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica" (commonly known as "Principia"), and as the title suggests, he referred to his field of study as "natural philosophy," not "science."

Lee Mankyu noted that linguist Lee Yunjae brought back some of the scientific terminology created by Kim Dubong while in Shanghai, and introduced about 521 terms related to physics, chemistry, and mathematics that were pure Korean words. For instance, Kim Dubong used "mongyeolgal" for physics, "himgal" for mechanics, "umjeuk" for motion, "beoreut" for inertia, "bujahim" for gravity, "daitgeulhim" for universal gravitation, "sokchathim" for centripetal force, and "soktteuhim" for centrifugal force. Kim Dubong's proposals were highly meaningful in that they revisited the issue of loanwords, which had been almost uncritically accepted during modernization, and sought to replace them with pure Korean words.

Until the early modern period, the Latin word "ars" (English "art") was actively used in a sense close to today's "technology." However, with the development of capitalism and the rise of mechanical industries that surpassed traditional craftsmanship, it became necessary to distinguish "art" in factories and production sites from "art" as scholarship, fine arts, or handicraft. Thus, the term "mechanical art" emerged as a new concept within "art." In the 16th century, French philosopher and educational reformer Peter Ramus divided "art" into "liberal art" and "mechanical art," and used the Latin term "technologia" as a concept encompassing both.

Today, "technology" is usually translated as "gisul" (technology), but traditionally, the Chinese character word "技術" had a different meaning from the modern sense of technology. For example, in Sima Qian's "Records of the Grand Historian" ("Shiji," around 91 BCE), specifically in the first section of the "Treatise on Wealth," the term appears early on: "The various technicians, such as doctors and magicians, devote themselves wholeheartedly to their work and display their talents to the fullest because they value sustenance" (醫方諸食技術之人, 焦神極能, ?重?也). The "Treatise on Wealth" in "Shiji" introduces the products of various countries in agriculture, fisheries, and commerce, as well as industrial fields such as smelting, metallurgy, and casting. In this context, "gisul" referred to the "skill" or "talent" of doctors or magicians.

While the English word "dinosaur" means "fearfully great lizard," in Chinese characters, "gongnyong" literally means "fearful dragon." Like Goto, Matajiro translated "sauros" as "dragon" and added the character "gong (恐)," meaning "fearful," to create the new term "gongnyong." However, some people preferred the term created by Owen, which more faithfully reflected the original concept of "fearfully great lizard." They used terms such as "gongcheok" (恐?) or "gongseok" (恐?), where the character for "lizard" ("cheok" or "seok") was combined with "gong" (fearful).

Some may ask, "Wouldn't confusion disappear if we simply translated 'speed' as 'sokryeok' and 'velocity' as 'sokdo'?" However, the issue is not that simple. Some argue that it is more appropriate to translate "velocity" as "sokryeok" and "speed" as "sokdo." This is because the "do" in "sokdo" denotes "degree," as in "temperature," "density," or "humidity," indicating a scalar value that represents only magnitude. In contrast, the "ryeok" in "sokryeok," meaning "force," implies the importance of direction, making it more appropriate to express as a vector value.

The Birth of Scientific Terminology | Written by Kim Sungkeun | Dongasia | 372 pages | 22,000 KRW