횡성

Korean

Etymology

Sino-Korean word from 橫城, from 橫 (“cutting crosswise”) + 城 (“castle”).

From earlier 횡천 (橫川, Hoengcheon, “stream cutting crosswise”), in reference to the course of the Seom River in the region. This is a Sinitic calque of the native pseudo-Goguryeo toponym 於斯買 (MC ʔɨʌ|ʔuo siᴇ mˠɛ^X), which appears to be a Koreanic-Japonic compound: compare Korean 엇 (eos-, “cutting crosswise”, prefix), Proto-Japonic *me (“water”).

The modern name was introduced in the fifteenth century because the original name was confused with the similarly pronounced and neighboring county of 홍천 (洪川, Hongcheon).

Pronunciation

(SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [ɸwe̞ŋsʰʌ̹ŋ] ~ [hø̞ŋsʰʌ̹ŋ]
Phonetic hangul: [휑성/횡성]

Romanizations
Revised Romanization^?	hoengseong
Revised Romanization (translit.)^?	hoengseong
McCune–Reischauer^?	hoengsŏng
Yale Romanization^?	hoyngseng

Proper noun

횡성 • (Hoengseong) (hanja 橫城)

Hoengseong (a county of Gangwon Province, South Korea)