On the Semantic Differentiation of Romaenseu, Nangman, and Romang in Korean.

This study investigates the semantic differentiation of Korean words Romaenseu, Nangman, and Romang, which serve as intriguing examples of synonymic rivalry. These polysemous words each had distinct semantic domains in which they were primarily used during the 1920s-1930s. At the same time, all three could, in certain contexts, refer to the concept of “romanticism.” However, over time, as literary trend theories declined, the semantic range of each word contracted. The meaning of “romanticism” began to disappear from Romaenseu after the 1930s, from Romang after the 1950s, and from Nangman after the 1970s. In this way, the three words lost their shared context and meaning, and their synonymic relationship gradually faded.