Dictionnaire Coréen-Français, the early Korean-French Dictionary(pronounced "Hanbul Jadeon" and written or "한불자뎐" or “韓佛字典"), was compiled in 1880 for a religious purpose by French Missionaries. This dictionary, however, is not seemingly complete with its contents, for it had been compiled by French Missionaries who lacked understanding of Korean language. Nevertheless, what is meaningful in Dictionnaire Coréen-Français is that this lexicon was published in the 19th century, a comparatively early period, and reflected authors' interests in Hangeul (Korean Language), and also that the texts were written on the basis of the languages that used in those days.
This research was aimed at preparing a basis for quest of Korean language used in the 19th century, while investigating more about Dictionnaire Coréen-Français, the early Korean-French Dictionary. Meanwhile, the precedent researches on Dictionnaire Coréen-Français were restricted to making commentary on the dictionary or lexicological study only, so then linguistic approaches to the dictionary were somewhat insufficient comparing to its importance. This paper conveys a wish of the researcher in that this research endeavor in Dictionnaire Coréen-Français published in the 19th century may be able to arouse interests of the academia and also of the public in the linguistic perspective of this old lexicon.
The derivations in this dictionary can be classified largely into three parts: prefix derivation, suffix derivation, and other derivations. As for other derivations, which include zero-change derivation and internal change derivation, the researcher discussed it by having combined the two into one. In the last chapter, 2.4, the distinctive features of affixes appeared in the Dictionnaire Coréen-Français were arranged.
Prefix derivation is the limited function of prefix, then it was reclassified according to the meaning of the prefix. As the result, prefixes related to humans include: Neot(넛-), Dol(돌-), Mat(맛-), Sut(숫-), Sui(��-), Yang(양-), Hol(홀-), Jap(잡-), Jom(좀-), Ban(반-), Eol(얼-), and Ong(옹-). And the prefixes in connection with fauna and flora include: Ge(개-), Deul(들-), Nal(날-), Dol(돌-), Dot(돗-), Put(풋-), Gang(강-), Daet(댓-), Shoe(슈-), Am(암-), Chal(찰-), Neut(늣-), Hot(핫-), Gun(군-), Deot(덧-), Man(맨-), Muin(��-). Oe(외-), and Jan(잔-). Lastly, other prefixes include: Nae(내-), De(데-), Doe(되-), Deul(들-), Eot(엇-), Jit(짓), Chi(치-), Heot(헛-), Hwi(휘-), Sang(생-), Wang(왕-), Cham(참-), and Beot(벗-).
The suffix derivation was classified into derived nouns, derivation of sensory verbs, and derived adverbs. Derived nominal suffixes include Jangi(-장이) / Jyangi(쟝이), Atchi(-앗치), Bachi(-바치), Gun(-군), Jil(-질), Nim(-님), Ssi(-씨), Dongi(-동이) / Dungi(-둥이), Kkureogi(-꾸럭이), Bangi(-방이), Nagi(-나기), Agi(-아지), Chi(-치), Eori(-어리) / Ari(-아리), M(-ㅁ) / Am(암) / Eum(음) / Om(옴), Yai(-애) / Ui(의), Gae(-개) / Ge(게), and I(-이), etc. Derived verbal suffixes include Geori(-거리-), Teori(-터리) / Teuri(트리-), I(-이), Hi(-히), Gi(-기), U(-우), Seureop(-스럽)/ Sseureop(쓰럽-), Rop(롭-), Ap(-압) / Eop(업), and Ha(-하-). Derived adverbial suffixes include: I (-이) / Hi(히), Ko(-코), Nae(-내), Na(-나), Eom(-엄), and Got(-껏).
The zero-change derivation that belongs to a category of the other derivation is a derivation by zero affix. For example, 'Yageutyageutda(야긋야긋다), Bitda(빗다), Pumda(품다), Sinda(신다). In the internal change derivations, the derivations by vowel alternation, and the derivation by consonant alternation play a key role, and then internal deviations are occurred together with them.
The distinctive features of affixes in Dictionnaire Coréen-Français were dealt with in terms of the changes in meaning and form of the affixes, and the characteristics thereof were also treated by the attributes of affixes such as, Productivity and Extinction. As a productive affix, Ha(-하-) may be counted. Since Beot(벗-) and Dol(-돌) are affixes, which cannot be discovered in other dictionaries and literatures, these were dealt with from the perspective of productivity. Meanwhile, as for the affixes in the part of 'Extinction,' these were divided into the two cases: when there was no productivity of affix while vocabularies were getting connected from the medieval age to modern world without inflection, and when the affix, which had maintained productivity in the Dictionnaire Coréen-Français, lost its function in modern Korean languages as an affix. As to the examples representing the former case, there are affixes such as; So(-소) / Jo(조), O(-오) / U(-우), Garang(가랑-), Hoe(회-), and Ma(마-), etc., and as the examples for the latter case, there is an affix such as, Neot(넛-).