Goguryeo (37 BC – 668 AD) (; ; : high castle; Old Korean: Guryeo) also later known as Goryeo (; ; : high and beautiful; Middle Korean: 고ᇢ롕〮, Gowoyeliᴇ), was a Korean kingdom located in the northern and central parts of the Korean Peninsula and the southern and central parts of modern day Northeast China. At its peak of power, Goguryeo controlled most of the Korean Peninsula, large parts of Manchuria and parts of eastern Mongolia and Inner Mongolia as well as Russia.
Along with Baekje and Silla, Goguryeo was one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea. () It was an active participant in the power struggle for control of the Korean peninsula and was also associated with the foreign affairs of neighboring polities in China and Japan.
The Samguk sagi (), a 12th-century text from Goryeo, indicates that Goguryeo was founded in 37 BC by Jumong (), a prince from Buyeo, who was enthroned as Dongmyeong.
Goguryeo was one of the great powers in East Asia, until its defeat by a Silla–Tang alliance in 668 after prolonged exhaustion and internal strife caused by the death of Yeon Gaesomun (). After its fall, its territory was divided between the Tang dynasty, Later Silla and Balhae.
The name Goryeo, alternatively spelled Koryŏ, a shortened form of Goguryeo (Koguryŏ), was adopted as the official name in the 5th century, and is the origin of the English name "Korea".
Names and etymology
Goguryeo (; ) is identified with the meaning of "high castle". Originally it was called Guryeo (Old Korean: 句麗 Kwulye (Yale; IPA: [ɡuɾ.jʌ̹]) or something similar to kaukuri [ko̞ːkɯ̟ᵝɾʲi], both derived from 忽 *kuru or *kolo meaning castle, fortress, possibly a Wanderwort like the Middle Mongolian qoto-n.
Goguryeo was later shortened to the calque of Goryeo (; ), which gained the meaning of "high and beautiful".
A number of possible cognates for 忽 exist as well, which was used at a later stage as a administrative subdivision with the spelling of hwol [hʌ̹ɭ], as in 買忽 mwoyhwol/michwuhwol [mit͡ɕʰuhʌ̹ɭ], alongside the likely cognate of 骨 kwol [ko̞ɭ]. Nam Pung-hyun presents it also as a Baekje term, probably a cognate with the Goguryeo word with the same meaning and spelling.
The iteration of 徐羅伐 syerapel as 徐羅城 *syeraKUY equated the Old Korean word for village, 伐 pel with the Old Japanese one for castle 城 ki, considered a borrowing from Baekje 己 *kuy, in turn a borrowing from Goguryeo 忽 *kolo.
Middle Korean 골〯 kwǒl [ko̞ɭ] and ᄀᆞ옳 kòwòlh [kʌ̀.òl] ("district") are likely descended from *kolo.
History
Origins
The earliest record of the name of Goguryeo () can be traced to geographic monographs in the Book of Han and is first attested as the name of one of the subdivisions of the Xuantu Commandery, established along the trade routes within the Amnok river basin following the destruction of Gojoseon in 113 BC. The American historian Christopher Beckwith offers the alternative proposal that the Guguryeo people were first located in or around Liaoxi (western Liaoning and parts of Inner Mongolia) and later migrated eastward, pointing to another account in the Book of Han. The early Goguryeo tribes from whom the administrative name is derived from were located close to or within the area of control of the Xuantu Commandery. Its tribal leaders also appeared to have held the ruler title of marquis over said nominal Gaogouli/Goguryeo county. The collapse of the first Xuantu Commandery in 75 BC is generally attributed to the military actions of the Goguryeo natives. In the Old Book of Tang (945), it is recorded that Emperor Taizong refers to Goguryeo's history as being some 900 years old. According to the 12th-century Samguk sagi and the 13th-century Samguk yusa, a prince from the Buyeo kingdom named Jumong fled after a power struggle with other princes of the court and founded Goguryeo in 37 BC in a region called Jolbon Buyeo, usually thought to be located in the middle Amnok/Yalu and Hun River basin.
In 75 BC, a group of Yemaek who may have originated from Goguryeo made an incursion into China's Xuantu Commandery west of the Yalu. The first mention of Goguryeo as a group label associated with Yemaek tribes is a reference in the Han Shu that discusses a Goguryeo revolt in 12 AD, during which they broke away from the influence of the Xuantu Commandery.