Cities of South Korea - Names and their origin

z Seoul 서울

The city has been known in the past by the successive names Wirye-seong (위례성;

慰禮城, Baekje era), Namgyeong (남경; 南京, Goryeo era), Hanseong (한성; 漢城, Joseon

era), and Hanyang (한양; 漢陽). Its current name originated from the Korean word

meaning "capital city," which is believed to be derived Seorabeol (서라벌; 徐羅伐), which

originally referred to Gyeongju, the capital of Silla.

Unlike most place names in Korea, "Seoul" has no corresponding hanja (Chinese

characters used in the Korean language). The recently-chosen Chinese name for Seoul

is 首尔 (simplified), 首爾 (traditional) (Shǒuěr), which sounds somewhat similar to

"Seoul" when pronounced in Mandarin Chinese.

z Busan 부산 釜山

The city name Busan, which was written 富山 in Hanja at that time, appears in the

true record of King Taejong of Joseon dynasty for the first time. After that for a long

period of time, they mixed the two ways of spelling-富山(meaning "rich mountains") and

釜山(meaning "iron pot mountains"), but gradually 釜山 became generalized from the

late-fifteenth century. The latter reflects the geographical characteristic of Busan

whose mountains form the shape of an iron pot.

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 z Daegue 대구 大邱

The city has been known in the past by the successive names Dabul(多伐,다벌),

Dalbul(達伐,달벌), Dalbulseong (達弗城,달불성), Dalgubul (達句伐,달구벌), Dalguhwa(達句

火,달구화) and then, Daegu(大丘,대구), all of them meaning more or less "large field",

"large village" or "large district".

z Incheon 인천 仁川

The first historical record of the Incheon area dates back to 475 A.D. during the

reign of King Jangsu of Goguryeo by the name of Michuhol. The area underwent several

name changes with successive kingdoms and dynasties. The current name was

established in 1413 A.D. during the reign of King Taejong of Joseon. The name Jemulpo

was not widely used until the opening of the port in 1883. When the port was founded in

1883, the city was called Chemulpo at the time(hangul: 제물포, hanja: 濟物浦, revised:

Jemulpo).

z Gwangju 광주 光州

Gwang (광,光) means light. Ju (주,州) means province.

z Daejeon 대전 大田

The Daejeon area was historically known as Hanbat (한밭), a native Korean term for

"large field", during the Joseon Dynasty. The term "Daejeon" simply means the same

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thing in Hanja.

z Ulsan 울산 蔚山

Ulsan had been called Ulju(울주) for 395 years. During the reign of King Taejong of

Joseon Dynasty, this name was replaced with the current one, Ulsan.

In 1962, when the industrial complex was set up, Junggu,Namgu and Donggu of

Ulsan-gun were raised to Ulsan-si and the rest parts which were not included in this

raising became Ulju-gun,which is the return of the former name.

"Ul" in Korean language means "fence" and the character 蔚 was phonetically

chosen to write the city name in Hanja. 蔚山 means therefore "surrounded by

mountains", which reflects the geographical feature of Ulsan; a basin.

z Jeju 제주 濟州

Historically, the island has been called by many different names including Doi (도이,

島夷),Dongyeongju (동영주, 東瀛州), Juho (주호, 州胡), Tammora (탐모라, 耽牟羅),

Seomna (섭라, 涉羅), Tangna (탁라, 竣羅),Tamna (탐라, 耽羅), Quelpart (q.v. gyulbat, 귤

밭, 橘밭).

Before the Japanese annexation in 1910, the island was usually known as Quelpart

to Europeans. The name "Quelpart" apparently came from the first European ship to

spot the island: the Dutch 'Quelpaert' which lent its name to the island when it sighted it

after being blown off course on its way to the Dutch trading base in Nangasaki (Japan)

from Taiwan (then the Dutch colony Formosa).

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 When Korea was annexed by Japan in 1910, Jeju then became known as Saishū,

which is the Japanese reading of the hanja for Jeju. Before 2000, when the Seoul

government changed the official Romanization of Hangul, Jeju-do was spelled Cheju-do.

Almost all written references to the island prior to that use that spelling.