Abstract
The purpose of this study is to determine the basis for the names of mountain passes that have been different since antiquity, especially names such as those written in Chinese characters. For this purpose, this researcher focused on 108 mountain passes listed in the section of Gyeongsangdo that is a part of Joseon's representative human geographic literature, 'Sinjong Dongguk Yeoji Seungram'. Then the author found out their location by reviewing 'Joseon Hugi Jibang Jido', 'Daedong Yeojido' and 'Hanguk Jimyeong Chongram'. Out of the 180 passes, 30 were finally selected to be analyzed. Again 15 among 30 were found named as 'Hyeon', 7 as 'Ryeong' and remainder were called either term on occasion. The study tried to find out standards according to whether the 30 passes were named as 'Hyeon' or 'Ryeong'. To carry out the study, the author made 3 hypotheses. First, the passes' altitudes were examined. Then visual characteristics were investigated when seen from the summit of the passes. Finally, the number of the passes' turns was investigated to know whether this discriminates between 'Hyeon' and 'Ryeong'. The results of the study can be summarized as follows. With the altitudes and the visual characteristics as mentioned above, it was not possible to determine features that clearly discriminate 'Hyeon' from 'Ryeong'. However, the number of the turns was significantly different in accordance with the names of the passes, 'Hyeon', 'Ryeong' and 'Hyeon or Ryeong'. It seems that 'Hyeon' and 'Ryeong' were discriminatively used depending on how mountain passes were apparently perceived with the number of their turns.
