Korean edit

Etymology edit

From Middle Korean 가마ᄒᆞ다 (Yale: kama-hota), equivalent to 가마 (Yale: kama, an inflected form of 감다 (kamta, to be black)) + ᄒᆞ다 (Yale: hota, light verb whence modern 하다 (hada)).[1]

This ᄒᆞ다 (hota) construction, which is now ungrammatical in these contexts, was used widely in Middle Korean to derive emphatic color terms; see #Related terms below.[1]

Pronunciation edit

Ablaut/harmonic pair
Yin-form 거멓다 (geomeota)
Yang-form 가맣다 (gamata)
Consonant set
Plain 가맣다 (gamata)
Intensive 까맣다 (kkamata)
  • (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA(key): [ˈka̠(ː)ma̠tʰa̠]
  • Phonetic hangul: [(ː)]
    • Though still prescribed in Standard Korean, most speakers in both Koreas no longer distinguish vowel length.
Romanizations
Revised Romanization?gamata
Revised Romanization (translit.)?gamahda
McCune–Reischauer?kamat'a
Yale Romanization?kāmahta

Adjective edit

가맣다 (gamata) (irregular, infinitive 가매, sequential 가마니)

  1. to be blackish; to be dark

Conjugation edit

Related terms edit

References edit

  1. 1.0 1.1 이선영 (Yi Seon-yeong) (2012) “국어의 기본 색채어와 그 의미 [gugeoui gibon saekchaeeowa geu uimi, A Study on Basic Color Terms and their meanings in Korean]”, in Gugeo Gungmunhak, volume 162, pages 143—170