The Name
The Namhangang (Namhan meaning 'South Han' and gang meaning 'river') is sometimes, but not always, referred to as the "Han" in South Korea. The term "South Han" is understood irrespective of which side of the border one stands.
Even though "Namhan" and "Bukhan" are homophones with the acronyms Namhan (남한; "South Korea") and Bukhan (북한; "North Korea"), used commonly in South Korea, this is a mere coincidence. The hanja for the Han River is not 韓 ("Korea") but 漢 (Chinese).
What is today called the Han River has been called by different names through the course of Korean history. During the period of the Han Commanderies on the peninsula and the early part of the three kingdom's period the river was oft referred to as the Daesu (대수; 帶水). The state of Goguryeo called it the Arisu (아리수; 阿利水), Baekje called it the Ugniha (욱리하; 郁里河), while the kingdom of Silla termed it the Iha (이하; 泥河).
Read more about this topic: Han River (Korea)
Famous quotes containing the words the and/or name:
“If you read only the best, you will have no need of reading the other books, because the latter are nothing but a rehash of the best and the oldest. To read Shakespeare, Plato, Dante, Milton, Spenser, Chaucer, and their compeers in prose, is to read in condensed form what all others have diluted.”
—Anna C. Brackett (18361911)
“What is it? a learned man
Could give it a clumsy name.
Let him name it who can,
The beauty would be the same.”
—Alfred Tennyson (18091892)