Some Koreans claim that the ancient Korean word ssaulabi (or saulabi) is the origin of samurai. (*) According to a Korean film "Saulabi," Saulabi is the ancient Korean word for a noble sword man and the etymology of the word samurai. (*) Their absurd claim is easily exploaded. Ssaulabi cannot be the origin of samurai in both terms of linguistics and history.
Koreans assume that ssaulabi were warriors of Baekje (Paekche) (346-660), an old kingdom in southwestern Korea, but they show no evidence that the term "ssaulabi" was used in Baekje. Furthermore, ssaulabi is the word of Modern Korean, derived from the language of Silla (356-935), the kingdom that unified the Korean Peninsula in 676. Though both languages of Baekje and Silla are still unclear, it is clear that they were quite different. So it is doubtful that "ssaulabi" was really used in the Baekje language. The Modern Korean word ssaulabi [
] consists of two parts: ssaul and abi. Ssaul is the conjugated form of the verb ssauda [
], which means to fight, and abi means man. The verb ssauda can be traced back to the Middle Korean form: sahoda, so ssaulabi shoud have been saholabi in Middle Korean if used. Much older form is uncertain. If the form had not been changed in Korean and saholabi was loaned into Old Japanese, the changes h -> k and b -> p should have been occured as pronunciation of Chinese characters, so the loaned word should have been sakurapi. Then the contemporary form should be sakurahi and cannot be samurai.
In contrast, the word samurai can be traced back to very old form. The ultimate origin of the Japanese word samurai (a professional warrior) is a verb samorafu: sa- was a prefix of unknown meaning, and morafu was composed of moru, to watch or guard, and fu of frequency. It is important that the original form did not have a meaning of fight. Samorafu was shifted to saburafu, which stands for serving a noble. That is why the Chinese character corresponding to samurai [
] means to accompany one's elder or superior. (*) Later the meaning to guard a noble in arms was added. Saburafi was derived from saburafu and was a man who guarded. In the late Heian Period (794-1185) warriors gradually gained power. At last they robbed the sovereignty from the dynasty and established a new government in Kamakura in 1192 (beginning of Kamarura Period 1192-1333). At the same time saburafi came to denote a warrior. However it should be noted that in the early Kamakura period, saburafi was restricted to personal retainers of court nobility and the shogun. It extended to all warriors regardless of rank in the Edo Period (1603-1865).
As times goes by, the pronunciation has changed as follows:
| samorafu -> saburafu/saburafi -> saburai -> samurai |
Historically speaking, there is no evidence that supports the existence of ssaulabi in Baekje, although the Koreans believe that warrior elite class appeared in Korea prior to Japanese samurai. If really existed, there is 250 year gap between the ruin of Baekje (660) and the rise of samurai. Much more gap between the ruin and the beginning of modern use of the word samurai (15 or 16C). How is the gap explained?
Therefore Ssaulabi cannot be the etymology of samurai.
Here is another fabrication. Some Koreans speciously argue that a Korean word "Samurang" is the origin of samurai. (*) According to their unsubstantiated claim, Samurangs who were in Koguryo, the kingdom in northern Korea (B.C.37-A.C.668), had a influence on Japanese samurai. But they cannot show evidence in support of the existence of Samurang. They just coined the word from three Chinese characters that sounds similar to samurai, although it is pronounced as 'shiburo' in Japanese. It is nothing more than fantasy.