Tamil & Korean: Two Languages That Are Much More Similar Than They Seem To Be (A thread)~

Cultural ties between the two countries date back to the first century when a Tamil princess named Seempavalaam became the first Queen of the ancient Gaya Kingdom after marrying the Korean King Kim Suro.

In his book, Kim Byeongmo’s Archaeological Travels: Heo Hwangok’s Route, from India to Gaya, Professor Kim Byeongmo mentions early connections, along with many other cultural and historic interactions between the two nationalities.

The couple is believed to have given birth to 10 sons and two daughters and gone on to establish the Karak Dynasty. ‘Karak’, interestingly, in its proto-Dravidian roots, means fish. Additionally, many of the names of ancient cities of Korea were counterparts of Dravidian words.

Keeping in mind that Tamil is the oldest language and also a Dravidian language, these instances point to a strong ancient linguistic link.

The French missionaries were the first ones to find any similarities between the Tamil and Korean languages.

The acknowledgement of this relationship is a two-way street between India and Korea. In 2015, Kyungsoo Kim, Consul General of South Korea on a visit to Chennai for a conference also revealed his awareness of the same.

As he was walking along a beach in Mahabalipuram, he heard someone who he assumed was his son screaming out “Appa!”, Kyungsoo Kim turned around only to realize that it was not his son. A young Tamilian boy was calling out to his father with the very word.

There are two basic common features:

-both languages are agglutinative,
-both languages follow SOV word order, and consequently modifiers always precede modified words and particles are post-positional.

Grass: Pronounced Pul (புல்) in Tamil, Pol (풀) in Korean
Day: Pronounced Nal in Tamil (நாள்) and Korean (날), both
Little bit: Pronounced Koñcam Koñcam (கொஞ்சம் கொஞ்சம்) in Tamil and Jogeum Jogeum (조금 조금) in Korean

Mother: Pronounced Amma (அம்மா) in Tamil, Omma (엄마) in Korean
Sister/sister-in-law: Pronounced Anni in Tamil, Eonni (언니) in Korean
Must/have to: Kattayamaka (கட்டாயமாக) in Tamil, Kachoyham in Korean
One: Onnu (ஒண்ணு) in Tamil, Eonnu (어느) in Korean

Jung Nam Kim, president, Korean Society of Tamil Studies, said there were words found both in Korean and Tamil and in both these languages, they meant the same thing and were pronounced the same way.

Other Tamil words found in Korean with the same meanings are: uraam (manure), pudhu (new), sourru (rice) and yerru (plough).

There are more – vanakkam in Tamil is Vankkaamtta in Korean. Bambu denoting a snake, in Tamil, is Bambu-baem in Korean. Santhosham (happiness) in Tamil is Shantutham in Korean.

In fact, Chennai has the largest Korean population — 4,000 — in India,” Kyungsoo Kim, Consul General of Republic of Korea, said.

Rathina Pugalenthi, a scholar from Viruthachalam near Cuddolore district, said that dance forms such as Korean drum dance and Thappaattam in Tamil Nadu had at least 12 similarities in terms of movements, and composition of eight members in a group, including two drummers.

P.Banumathi, assistant professor, Department of Tamil in Valliammal College for Women, spoke about how the traditional weaving technology of the State was meritoriously followed in the interior parts of Korea even now.

Some more common words in the languages~

Jung Nam Kim's research delved into the arrival of Tamilians in Korea. “Tamilians must have arrived in South Korea in first century B.C. In addition, the Korean people have been called ‘the nation of white-coloured dress’. Why?

Traditionally the Korean people like wearing the white-colored dress despite the cold weather. This custom must have been brought in by Indians including Tamilians who are used to wearing the white-coloured dress because of the hot weather,” he adds.

Kim drew a linguistic parallel between the two cultures. “‘Apahada’ in Korean and ‘Avadhippadu’ in Tamil share the meaning of ‘ to be painful, to suffer’.

‘Omomo!’ in Korean is the same as ‘Amama!’ in Tamil, which signifies ‘astonished, stunned, flabbergasted, appalled, shocked, dumbfounded’. .

The Tamil word ‘thalattu’ is the same as Korean word ‘dalaeda’ because they refer to soothe, calm down, mollify, cajole, coax a person, especially a crying baby,” he revealed