This article should specify the language of its non-English content, using {{lang}}, {{transliteration}} for transliterated languages, and {{IPA}} for phonetic transcriptions, with an appropriate ISO 639 code. Wikipedia's multilingual support templates may also be used. (December 2022) |
Hunminjeongeum | |
---|---|
Gansong Art Museum, Seoul, South Korea | |
Also known as | The Proper Sounds for the Instruction of the People |
Date | October 9, 1446 (government of Joeson) |
Place of origin | Seoul, Joseon |
Scribe(s) | Hall of Worthies |
Author(s) |
|
Script | Classical Chinese |
Contents | Introduction of the native Korean writing system Hangul |
Korean name | |
Hunminjeongeum | 훈〮민져ᇰ〮ᅙᅳᆷ |
Hanja | |
Revised Romanization | Hunminjeongeum |
McCune–Reischauer | Hunminjŏngŭm |
Korean name | |
Hangul | 훈민정음 |
Hanja | 訓民正音 |
Revised Romanization | Hunminjeongeum |
McCune–Reischauer | Hunminjŏngŭm |
Hunminjeongeum (Korean: 훈민정음; Hanja: 訓民正音; lit. The Correct/Proper Sounds for the Instruction of the People) is a 15th-century manuscript that introduced the Korean script Hangul. The name of the manuscript was also the original name of the script.
King Sejong the Great commissioned the royal research institute Hall of Worthies to write the Hunminjeongeum to describe the writing system he had invented in 1443. The manuscript was then published in 1446.[1]
Hunminjeongeum was intended to be a simpler alternative to the incumbent Chinese-based Hanja, in order to promote literacy among the general populace. It originally included 28 letters, but over time, four of those (ㆆ, ㆁ, ㅿ, ·) were abandoned,[2] leading to the current 24 letters of Hangul.
Sejong the Great also commissioned the creation of a companion explanatory manuscript entitled Hunminjeongeum Haerye.[1] In 1940, a copy of the Hunminjeongeum Haerye was discovered in Andong, Gyeongsang Province.[1] An early copy of the document is in the Gansong Art Museum in Seoul, South Korea.[1] In 1962, Hunminjeongeum Haerye was designated a National Treasure in South Korea[1] and was registered by UNESCO in the Memory of the World Programme in 1997.[3]