A Study on the Term 'Cholik'

철릭의 명칭에 관한 연구

The present paper mainly conerns with the four controversial issues: the exact period in which the Cholik was introduced into Korea, the morphological characteristics, the phonological and semantic aspects of the term itself. First, upon the political and serial ground, the Cholik was introduced at the later part of mid-koryo dynasty. Second, the original form of 'Cholik' was modeled after the Mongolian 'pyok-jok-po', an outwear with pleated skirt. Third, the term 'cholik' was derived from Mongolian 'terlig'. It came through China with the Chinese letters but the term maintained the Mongolian sound. The variety of the present pronunciations like 'chorik', 'chonik', 'chomni' and various notations in Chinese letters could be attributed to different phonological changes and analogy. Last, th original meaning of cholik was somewhat similar to 'militia' or 'soldier', but the social function of the wearer gradually discolored to indicate only the costume for lower officials or the military uniform.