Reconstruction:Proto-Koreanic/hol

• *hul, *ol, *ul

This term has been reconstructed since the 1930s, based on the fact that the Middle Korean words for "one day", "two days", "three days", "four days", "how many days", "ten days", and "today" all seem to share an identical morpheme which was no longer productive by Middle Korean. Both *oL/*uL and *hoL/*huL have been reconstructed, but the latter is more likely because the Middle Korean word for "two days" is 이틀 (ithul), and the numerical morpheme in this word appears as a non-aspirated /it/ in other words such as 이듬ᄒᆡ (itum-hoy, “next year”). The arguments for *o- hinge on the fact that 사ᄋᆞᆯ (saol, “three days”) and 나ᄋᆞᆯ (naol, “four days”) are attested earlier and more commonly than 사ᄒᆞᆯ (sahol, “id.”) and 나ᄒᆞᆯ (nahol, “id.”), but this may be because of a common process in which intervocalic /h/ was dropped; compare 가히 (kahi, “dog”) and 개 (kay, “id.”).

It has also been debated whether the morpheme was a noun or a suffix, but a noun is more likely because Middle Korean 오ᄂᆞᆯ (wonol, “today”) contains the adnominal suffix -n before -ol, which marks the following morpheme as a noun. At some later point, it appears to have become grammaticalized and became subject to word-internal vowel harmony, which has obscured the original vowel beyond recovery.

See also Old Korean 日尸 (*NAlh, “day”).

*hol

1. day

• ⇒ Middle Korean: ᄒᆞᄅᆞ/ᄒᆞᆯㄹ (holo (isolated) / holl- (connective), “one day”)
  • Jeju: ᄒᆞ를 (hawreul, “id.”)
  • Korean: 하루 (haru, “id.”)
• ⇒ Middle Korean: 이틀 (ithul, “two days”)
  • Jeju: 이틀 (iteul, “id.”)
  • Korean: 이틀 (iteul, “id.”)
• ⇒ Middle Korean: 사ᄋᆞᆯ/사ᄒᆞᆯ (sa(h)ol, “three days”)
  • Jeju: 사흘 (saheul, “id.”)
  • Korean: 사흘 (saheul, “id.”)
• ⇒ Middle Korean: 나ᄋᆞᆯ/나ᄒᆞᆯ (na(h)ol, “four days”)
  • Jeju: 나을 (na'eul, “id.”)
  • Korean: 나흘 (naheul, “id.”)
• ⇒ Middle Korean: 열흘 (yelhul, “ten days”)
  • Jeju: 열흘 (yeolheul, “id.”)
  • Korean: 열흘 (yeolheul, “id.”)
• ⇒ Middle Korean: 오ᄂᆞᆯ (wonol, “today”)
  • Jeju: 오널 (oneol, “id.”)
  • Korean: 오늘 (oneul, “id.”)
• ⇒ Middle Korean: 며츨 (myechul, “how many days”)
  • Jeju: 메츨 (mecheul, “id.”)
  • Korean: 며칠 (myeochil, “id.”)
• ⇒? Middle Korean: 닷쇄 (tassway, “five days”) (with fused suffix -ay?)
  • Jeju: 닷쉐 (datswe, “id.”), 닷세 (datse)
  • Korean: 닷새 (datsae, “id.”)
• ⇒? Jeju: ᄋᆢᆺ쉐 (yawtswe, “six days”) (with fused suffix -ay?)
• ⇒? Middle Korean: 엿쇄 (yessway, “six days”) (with fused suffix -ay?)
  • Korean: 엿새 (yeotsae, “id.”)
• ⇒? Middle Korean: 닐웨 (nilwey, “seven days”) (with fused suffix -ay?)
  • Jeju: 일뤠 (illwe, “id.”)
  • Korean: 이레 (ire, “id.”)
• ⇒? Jeju: ᄋᆢ드레 (yawdeure, “eight days”) (with fused suffix -ay?)
• ⇒? Middle Korean: 여ᄃᆞ래 (yetolay, “eight days”) (with fused suffix -ay?)
  • Korean: 여드레 (yeodeure, “id.”)
• ⇒? Middle Korean: 아ᄒᆞ래 (aholay, “nine days”) (with fused suffix -ay?)
  • Jeju: 아흐레 (aheure, “id.”)
  • Korean: 아흐레 (aheure, “id.”)

• Lee, Ki-Moon, Ramsey, S. Robert (2011) A History of the Korean Language, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 176
• 이동석 (Yi Dong-seok) (2016) “날짜 어휘의 형태론적 분석 [naljja eohwiui hyeongtaeronjeok bunseok, A morphological analysis of the 'number of day' words]”, in Gugeosa yeon-gu, volume 22, →DOI, pages 171—198