Abstract
This study aims at scrutinizing the etymological meanings and literal usages of the term Gyung perse so as to clarify the traditional concepts formualted in the northeastern Asian countries. Related classical dictionaries and literatures in Korea and China were consulted intensively. Strictly speaking, the compound word gyung-gwan(景觀) composed of gyung(景:seen objects) and gwan(觀:seeing) in terms of word formation is not the synonym of the English term Landscpe. The Chinese character Gyung(景) composed of the character il(日:the Sun) and the character gyung(京:royal palace or capital city) originally indicated a brilliant and beautiful view of the capital city seen in a clear and bright daylight. Thereafter this ideographic letter had been used to indicate an unusual view which is aesthetically and can be used as a typical landscape schema or a model. Due to intrinsic nature of this kind of view, the meanings of gyung had been extended connotativelly as well as denotativelly: the meaning worthy of note in terms of landscape studies ar l) visible object which places some physical and psychological distance from the observer; 2)the scene or the backdrop of a theater, 3)a defined vista. With these in mind, meanings and usages of related terms as Kwung(光:light or bright), Pung(風:wind or fresh). Chi(致:fine), Mul(物:object or world), Gae (槪:general), Seung(勝:outstanding or surpassing), Saek(色:color or colorful), which had produced diversified and delicate connotations through compounding with the etymon Gyung, were reviewed.