Fó (佛), Pwuche (仏体), and Hotoke (保止氣)

Abstract

Abstract:The aim of this article is to discuss how the Chinese loanword fó (佛) was incorporated into pre-Old Korean (pre-OK), Old Korean (OK), and Western Old Japanese (WOJ) on the basis of textual research using various primary sources from China, Korea, and Japan. The author proposes that two routes exist to explain the borrowing of the Chinese word fó (佛) into pre-OK, OK, and WOJ: one route from the Six Dynasties to the Korean Three Kingdoms period to Japan’s pre-Nara period, and one from the Sui and Tang dynasties to the Unified Silla and Koryŏ periods.