-곳

Middle Korean Etymology Unattested in Old Korean, where only oko 火叱 *-pos (whence Middle Korean okm ᄇᆞᆺ -pos) is attested. In Middle Korean, okm 곳 -kwos and okm ᄇᆞᆺ -pos appear to be wholly synonymous except that the former is much more common (the latter is also not attested outside conditional clauses, but this may be a result of its rarity). It is often speculated that they stem from the same etymon and that there is a diachronic shift from ko 火叱 / ᄇᆞᆺ > ko 곳, but the phonological differences are difficult to resolve. Pronunciation okm /kos/ Particle okm particle -kwós 곳〮 okm in conditional clauses as long as emphasizes that if the conditional holds true, the result is inescapable okm ᄇᆞᆺ -pos okm 14th century? ko 만전춘별사 滿殿春 / 만전춘 Manjeonchun ko 악장가사 樂章歌詞 / 악장가사 Akjang gasa 소콧 얼면 여흘도 됴ᄒᆞ니 As long as the pond is frozen, the rapids are good as well swoh-kwos elmyen yehul-two tywo-honi okm 1459 ko 월인석보 月印釋譜 / 월인석보 Worin seokbo 산〯 것곳〮 아니〮 주기〮면〮 어〯두ᇙ 주〮리〮 업〯스니〮 As long as one does not kill a living thing, it cannot be obtained sǎn kès-kwós àní cwùkímyén ĕtwùlq cwúl-í ěpsùní 11:4b okm outside conditional clauses Perhaps an emphatic marker, or perhaps a marker limiting the clause; see contrasting analyses below. Typically used with adverbs of limitation, such as okm 오직 wocik only, solely. okm 1447 ko 석보상절 釋譜詳節 / 석보상절 Seokbo sangjeol ᄉᆞ라ᇰᄒᆞ〮야〮도〮 ᄯᅩ〮 모ᄅᆞ〮리라〮 나옷〮 이〮 [相](샤ᇰ)ᄋᆞᆯ〮 알〯오〮 [十](십)[方](바ᇰ)[佛](불)도〮 아〯ᄅᆞ시〮ᄂᆞ니〮라〮 limiting Even if they reflect upon it, they will not know; it is only that I know this figure, and the Buddhas of the Ten Directions know it as well.emphatic Even if they reflect upon it, they will not know; I indeed know this figure, and the Buddhas of the Ten Directions know it as well. sòlàng-hóyá-twó stwó mwòlólìlá nà-Gwós í SYANG-ól ǎlGwó SIP.PANG.PWUL-twó ǎlòsínònílá 13:42b—43a Usage notes This particle was syntactically quite versatile and has been attested after nouns, adverbs, inflected verbs, and case markers. A 2009 analysis of over four hundred instances of this particle in the Middle Korean corpus showed that around 80% of all attestations are from conditional clauses. It was used into Early Modern Korean, but slowly declined until final obsolescence in the nineteenth century. Alternative forms okm -옷 -Gwos allomorph after a vowel or /l/ References ko 하귀녀 (Ha Gwi-nyeo) ko:보조사 '-곳/옷'과 '-火叱' The particles -kwos/Gwos and *-pos Gugeohak 43 2004 181—208 ko 문병열 (Mun Byeong-yeol) ko:중세국어 한정 보조사의 의미·기능과 그 변화 양상 The meaning and function of Middle Korean limiting particles and their transformation Gugeohak 54 2009 137—164