[Update 2014-07-28: my friend Peter gave some useful insight, and I figured out more, because of it. The correct form is 참나, not 첨나 – my transcription is either an error or a legitimate dialectical variant. See comments below.]
My coworkers use and expression sometimes which I was trying to figure out, yesterday. It’s a kind of interjection following a declarative sentence. It is the term “첨나” [cheom-na]. I understand the pragmatics of it pretty well, I think: it seems to mean “How dare he/she/you?”
For example, Ken says (in Korean), “Jeong-yeol [a seventh-grader] is taller than me! 첨나! [how dare he?!]” Or [on e.g. a TV show] something like, “My girlfriend was looking at that other man… 첨나 [how dare she]!”
But not a single one of my coworkers could “explain” this expression. What I mean by that is that I want to understand the syntax/semantics/etymology. Where did it come from? Aren’t they curious? Is it a verbal particle? It seems to be some sort of verbal contraction, as best I can guess. Or is it a noun particle? It sounds vaguely Chinese, but these types of slang expressions are rarely Chinese – most Korean slang comes from native Korean vocabulary or from more recent Japanese or English borrowings. No one knows. No one is curious to know. 첨나! [how dare they?]
Anyway, I want to figure it out. If anyone reading this blog is knowledgeable about Korean and able to “explain” it, I’d love to know. I drew a complete blank on my internet searches – which are admittedly imcompetent in the area of Korean language studies.
[daily log: walking, 5 km]
Caveat: 첨나!
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when you asked your co-workers, did they respond “how dare you” 🙂 I love your questions, am enthralled by your inquisitive mind, somewhat like my own, but in different directions. Waiting to see where you go next.
I asked a Korean about this. Here is what I got:
(1) It ought to be spelled “참나”
(2) It is similar to “아, 진짜!”
(3) English equivalents proposed: “Oh my God!” “Dang!” “Goodness” “This is ridiculous!” “It’s not even funny!”
(4) Despite the above, it is NOT (the Korean thinks) related to 참다: to endure something, to be patient with something.
(5) The “나” actually means “I”. If true, this solves 50% of the problem. Just what’s the 참?
Also, I hear that “나 원참!” is an alternate form.
(Below is my own conjecture)
Browsing around the dictionary, I’d thus propose “원차”(怨嗟) as origin of this 참.
원차: grudge, resentment
“원차의 소리” murmurs, resentments
“원차의 대상이 되다” become the object of resentment
Thus, “참나!” can mean literally “I resent that!”
Responding to Peter’s comments, I wrote:
The 참 instead of 첨 makes sense – though none of my coworkers corrected my mis-transcription of the word, meaning either they think it really is 첨 (i.e. that it’s a legitimate variant in circulation) or else they didn’t realize I’d mis-heard it – possible because I’m always getting vowels wrong.
Once I know that it’s 참, I found an entry in Samuel Martin’s mega-book (https://caveatdumptruck.com/index.php/2011/06/19/caveat-damn-lazy-linguists/). I don’t have the book with me at the moment (I’m on break at work) but it said that 참 (meaning 3) is an interjection used to express negative surprise in various compounds, and maybe related to 참 meaning “very, really, truly.” He doesn’t mention “참나” specifically, however.
I definitely appreciate your having taken the time to help me figure this out. It was driving me crazy that no one seemed able to explain it.