Idu
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 A page from the 19th-century yu seo pil ji. |
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Idu is an archaic writing system which represents the Korean language using hanja. The term "idu" is used in two senses. It may refer to various systems of representing Korean phonology through Chinese characters, which were used from the Three Kingdoms to Joseon periods. In this sense it includes hyangchal and gugyeol writing, as well as the narrower sense of "idu". The narrower sense refers solely to the system developed in the Goryeo period, and first referred to by name in the Jewang Ungi.
The idu script used Chinese characters, called hanja, along with special symbols to indicate Korean verb endings and other grammatical markers that were different in Korean from Chinese.[citation needed] This made both the meaning and pronunciation difficult to parse, and was one reason why the system was gradually abandoned, to be replaced with hangul, after the 15th century. In this respect, it faced problems analogous to those which confronted early efforts at representing the Japanese language with kanji due to the grammatical differences between these languages and Chinese.
Characters were selected for idu based on their Chinese sound, their adapted Korean sound, or their meaning, and some were given a completely new sound and meaning. At the same time, 150 new Korean characters were invented, mainly for names of people and places. This process led to the Koreans borrowing large numbers of Chinese words, and the idu system was quite difficult to learn. Only a small minority of the male aristocracy ever gained literacy.[citation needed]
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