The Dictionary on Korean Land Terms (edited by the Institute of Korean Studies at Yonsei University and published by Hyean in 2016) can be deemed the culmination of research on socio-economic history in Korea since liberation. This book is a critique of the land dictionaries compiled following a Japanese colonial order, and is also combined with a land term dictionary based on existing socio-economic history research. It is a professional dictionary for Korean Studies in the areas of agricultural, land system, and socio-economic history.

This dictionary was planned as a joint project with the Land Register Group of the Korean History Society. Rather than addressing theoretic discussions or using a specific academic school’s approach, this work endeavored to provide research with great significance for developing future research methods by being based in substantive examples. This dictionary was designed to spark interest in the humanities, which have been generally inactive, and, furthermore, aimed to lay the academic foundation for the research of future generations. This is because the number of professional researchers in this field is decreasing and taking interest in the socio-economic history field in particular is difficult due to the demanding vocabulary.

This dictionary received the support of the Academy of Korean Studies, and was published in 2016 after a three year writing process and two year editing process beginning in 2011. A specialist in each period after the Three Kingdoms Period took charge of research on their respective area, including the Goryeo dynasty, Joseon dynasty, the end of the Joseon dynasty and the colonial period, and the period just after liberation, and they were responsible for organizing and writing each section. The contents of the dictionary are based on a research project to compile the dictionary which I supervised, but the process of finalizing the dictionary was entrusted to an editorial board. As a researcher specializing in the development of land ownership and agriculture, I took on the role of supervising this research, but if the work was not divided up and distributed to specialists in each period, the compilation of the dictionary would not have been possible.

The entries of the dictionary are divided into three levels and include subjects and concepts related to the land system, land documents, finances, agriculture, and related people, etc. Over 4,000 different entries were conceived, but the final version includes roughly 1,500 entries. After three years of writing by the researchers, the editorial board focused on the joint effort of proofreading and revising each entry to finalize the dictionary. The most important aspect of the writing process was clarifying the definition and time period characteristics of the different concepts, but we also found it important to use a supplemental method to reflect the changes among the various time periods. That is, readjusting concepts such as tax, lands, and ownership, etc. over each period. To prevent breaks between time and space, we used a method to find systematic continuity between entries.

Reference words were used to maximize the connectivity between entries, and a method of cross-referencing through analogous terms and synonyms was used. In this way, the concept of a term could be more generously defined and could also be objectified as well. Furthermore, after finalizing the writing of the entries, keywords for indexing were extracted from the main terms of the content and were used as supplemental reference words. In this way, even if something is not provided with a specific entry word, it can be found by using the index. This three stage process of writing, reference words, and indexing was used to complete the dictionary and was done by the writer of each entry word.

Concerns about the utilization of the Dictionary on Korean Land Terms were the driving force behind its production. We strived for the dictionary to be a useful guidebook not only for experts in Korean Studies, but also for college students interested in history. In order to define terms, the original and source were cited and means to find examples were provided. This was done to assist students in using documents that correspond to the times when they are using this dictionary for studying. It is our hope that the publication of the Dictionary on Korean Land Terms can significantly contribute to the training of future generations of classics scholars including those who study history. We also expect that this book will be of use in interdisciplinary research.

The first significant point of the Dictionary on Korean Land Terms is that it allows one to find historical terms and examples of their use in the same spot. Also, the reference terms and index strengthen the finding of concepts related to the term and examples. Through the reference words under each section, and the dictionary’s index in the back, one can find the semantic relationship between the entry word and hypernyms, hyponyms, synonyms, and other related words.

The second point of significance of the dictionary is that it has systematically listed land terms by considering their connection with modern and contemporary entry words rather than listing the concepts from land terms that were used in the past but have disappeared in the present. And third is that we received photos of remains and illustrations from associated organizations and published these with related entries to provide a visualization of the terms.

Despite this, there are still ways to improve the dictionary. There are many entries that were left out of the published version of the dictionary, and in the future an online version would be helpful in completing the dictionary. The most regrettable omission is that a comparative methodology was not used to combine the main terms with those used in East Asia or around the world. Furthermore, translating these land terms into English is something that should be done, but we did not have enough time. The tasks of providing accurate standards which can be the standard for future Korean Studies research, and also preparing a way to globalize socio-economic history research remain works in progress.

(About the time this book review was completed, I received a notification that the Dictionary on Korean Land Terms was recognized as an excellent work by the Ministry of Education among research outcomes produced in 2016 in the area of Korean Studies.)
(Translated by Benjamin A. Engel)