Welcome Guest [Log In] [Register]
Add Reply
Gawi
Topic Started: Jun 8 2010, 05:46:01 AM (2,230 Views)
Ebizur
Advanced Member
[ *  *  * ]
Quote:
 
In Korean culture, sleep paralysis is called gawee nulim (Hangul: °¡À§´­¸²), literally meaning "being pressed down by scissors". It is often associated with a superstitious belief that a ghost or spirit is laying on top of or pressing down on the sufferer.
I've never thought of °¡À§ gawi in °¡À§´­¸² gawi-nullim as reflecting the same morpheme as Middle Korean gɔzɣay > gɔzay ~ gɔɣay > Standard Modern Korean °¡À§ gawi "scissors" (cf. Manchu hasaha "scissors"; also cf. Modern Korean dialectal °¡»õ gasae, °¡½Ã°³ gasigae, etc. "scissors"). Many (or perhaps most) modern Korean dialects prefer conservative forms of the word for "scissors" that do not sound much like gawi. Actually, a few linguists have proposed a specious hypothesis that the standard Modern Korean word for "scissors," gawi, is not a variant development of the same Korean word that has been transcribed with Chinese characters as ùÜí­ËÏ in the 12th century CE and that has developed into gasigae, gasae, etc. in modern Korean dialects, but rather a separate etymon related to Mongolian *qawiti > qayici > Modern Halh hayc "scissors."

Anyway, on the basis of stories that I have heard from Korean people, I always have considered gawi in gawi-nullim to be the name of some sort of ghost or monster (or Сãê "a departed soul, a disembodied spirit of a dead person, a ghost; a demonic spirit" in Korean) and to be unrelated to the progressive variant of the Korean word for "scissors."
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Ebizur
Advanced Member
[ *  *  * ]
JCA
Jun 8 2010, 05:46:01 AM
Quote:
 
In Korean culture, sleep paralysis is called gawee nulim (Hangul: °¡À§´­¸²), literally meaning "being pressed down by scissors". It is often associated with a superstitious belief that a ghost or spirit is laying on top of or pressing down on the sufferer.
I've never thought of °¡À§ gawi in °¡À§´­¸² gawi-nullim as reflecting the same morpheme as Middle Korean gɔzɣay > gɔzay ~ gɔɣay > Standard Modern Korean °¡À§ gawi "scissors" (cf. Manchu hasaha "scissors"; also cf. Modern Korean dialectal °¡»õ gasae, °¡½Ã°³ gasigae, etc. "scissors").
By the way, some Nivkhs have been recorded using a morpheme /χaza/ to mean "scissors." This is almost certainly a loanword from some Tungusic language, but I am not sure which one is the most likely source. Note that fricatives are automatically voiced in intervocalic position in Nivkh, so the sibilant at the beginning of the second syllable may have been a voiceless /s/ in the source language (cf. Ainu /sisam/ "non-Ainu person, foreigner" > Nivkh /sezam/ "Japanese", Nanai /ixa/ or Manchu /ihan/ "ox, cow, cattle" > Nivkh /eɣa(N)/ "ox, cow, cattle").
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
master kapha
Newbie
[ * ]
Has anybody in here experienced Ga-Wi Dreams? I have read that they are due to Stress... Please respond, Would like to talk further into this. Thanks
master wu
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
black man
The Right Hand
[ *  *  * ]
EDIflowerz
Nov 6 2010, 04:26:28 PM
Has anybody in here experienced Ga-Wi Dreams? I have read that they are due to Stress... Please respond, Would like to talk further into this. Thanks
Welcome to this forum, EDIflowerz.

If waiting for more replies, please stay patient. Some of our posters might be back next week. We have plenty of other topics and are open to topics like this one. So you can read and post in the meantime.

"Gawi" seems to be Korean-specific. So far, I could find the key word in the context of Korean culture only.

a personal POV I found via search engine:
http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=172767939&blogID=266282440

Anyway, it's good that you mention it at all. Perhaps someone Korean who knows or someone who coincidentally got information about it. Interestingly, there is a movie Gawi (가위) from 2000. So maybe people who are into horror movies know something about it.




More generally, I seem to have experienced one or kinds of sleep paralysis. One was when I dreamt that my movements became extremely slowed down (imagine never-ending jumps etc). The other was when I dreamt of laying in bed when a disgusting figure approached me. I got angry and asked the monster who it was and almost immediately awoke.

Btw, there is also the motif that certain malicious beings in Turkic(?) or Mongolic(?) folklore don't like being in one room with impulsive people. An angry man could unintentionally kill such a being with a sudden move. Further, there is the idea among Han Chinese that practicing (or mocking) martial arts might help against malicious spirits.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
master kapha
Newbie
[ * ]
They Say that Bruce Lee, encountered many of these dreams through a family curse,..I dont think it is truly the cause of his Death, But who really knows? I havent encountered these kind of dreams until I found myself in a deep depression. .. It's been awhile since I have had one, Dont plan on having another one though. haha.
Edited by master kapha, Nov 6 2010, 08:41:27 PM.
master wu
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
black man
The Right Hand
[ *  *  * ]
EDIflowerz
Nov 6 2010, 08:30:48 PM
They Say that Bruce Lee, encountered many of these dreams through a family curse,..I dont think it is truly the cause of his Death, But who really knows? I havent encountered these kind of dreams until I found myself in a deep depression. .. It's been awhile since I have had one, Dont plan on having another one though. haha.
Bruce Lee could have had weird dreams, I guess. He was described as an overly active person who might have tried to be "too disciplined". Most people will at some point decide to relax and rethink. But he was apparently not like that. Perhaps that caused the headaches(?) he described for the phase before his death. Then he was said to have taken the wrong medicament...

However, I can hardly imagine that someone like him suffered from nightmares. Rather, he didn't dream enough, I'd suppose.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
master kapha
Newbie
[ * ]
black man
Nov 6 2010, 09:00:33 PM
EDIflowerz
Nov 6 2010, 08:30:48 PM
They Say that Bruce Lee, encountered many of these dreams through a family curse,..I dont think it is truly the cause of his Death, But who really knows? I havent encountered these kind of dreams until I found myself in a deep depression. .. It's been awhile since I have had one, Dont plan on having another one though. haha.
Bruce Lee could have had weird dreams, I guess. He was described as an overly active person who might have tried to be "too disciplined". Most people will at some point decide to relax and rethink. But he was apparently not like that. Perhaps that caused the headaches(?) he described for the phase before his death. Then he was said to have taken the wrong medicament...

However, I can hardly imagine that someone like him suffered from nightmares. Rather, he didn't dream enough, I'd suppose.
http://thedaoculture.com/yinyang/easternphilosophy_meditationcenter_ichingworkbook.php?id=3_3&no=1
master wu
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
black man
The Right Hand
[ *  *  * ]
EDIflowerz
Nov 6 2010, 09:04:47 PM
black man
Nov 6 2010, 09:00:33 PM
EDIflowerz
Nov 6 2010, 08:30:48 PM
They Say that Bruce Lee, encountered many of these dreams through a family curse,..I dont think it is truly the cause of his Death, But who really knows? I havent encountered these kind of dreams until I found myself in a deep depression. .. It's been awhile since I have had one, Dont plan on having another one though. haha.
Bruce Lee could have had weird dreams, I guess. He was described as an overly active person who might have tried to be "too disciplined". Most people will at some point decide to relax and rethink. But he was apparently not like that. Perhaps that caused the headaches(?) he described for the phase before his death. Then he was said to have taken the wrong medicament...

However, I can hardly imagine that someone like him suffered from nightmares. Rather, he didn't dream enough, I'd suppose.
http://thedaoculture.com/yinyang/easternphilosophy_meditationcenter_ichingworkbook.php?id=3_3&no=1
So this is the original story. Thanks for the link, EDIflowerz.

This should change the approach and will hopefully help us finding answers to your questions.

In China dealing with ghosts has very commercial aspects. It wouldn't surprise me if the same is true for Korea. Since Brandon (fully American) is involved, too, I'd classify the story as an urban legend (not classic folklore). Nevertheless, there is a distinctive description of "gawi": the spirit is located at the neck of the sleeping person who can move his head only.
Edited by black man, Nov 7 2010, 07:20:40 PM.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
master kapha
Newbie
[ * ]
black man
Nov 6 2010, 11:41:12 PM
EDIflowerz
Nov 6 2010, 09:04:47 PM
black man
Nov 6 2010, 09:00:33 PM
EDIflowerz
Nov 6 2010, 08:30:48 PM
They Say that Bruce Lee, encountered many of these dreams through a family curse,..I dont think it is truly the cause of his Death, But who really knows? I havent encountered these kind of dreams until I found myself in a deep depression. .. It's been awhile since I have had one, Dont plan on having another one though. haha.
Bruce Lee could have had weird dreams, I guess. He was described as an overly active person who might have tried to be "too disciplined". Most people will at some point decide to relax and rethink. But he was apparently not like that. Perhaps that caused the headaches(?) he described for the phase before his death. Then he was said to have taken the wrong medicament...

However, I can hardly imagine that someone like him suffered from nightmares. Rather, he didn't dream enough, I'd suppose.
http://thedaoculture.com/yinyang/easternphilosophy_meditationcenter_ichingworkbook.php?id=3_3&no=1
So this is the original story. Thanks for the link, EDIflowerz.

This should change the approach and will hopefully help us finding answers to your questions.

In China dealing with ghosts has very commercial aspects. It wouldn't surprise me if the same is true for Korea. Since Brandon (fully American) is involved, too, I'd classify the story as an urban legend (not classic folklore). Nevertheless, there is a distinctive description of "gawi": the spirit is located at the neck of the sleeping person who can move his head only.

Well, I'll first watch the movie "Gawi" before I'll update this post...
Yea, It is true that it is at the neck, because when I had these few dreams the dark spirit would be in the background and i would feel a sharp twitching pain in my neck and shoulders, pretty freaky stuff.
master wu
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
ren
Advanced Member
[ *  *  * ]
EDIflowerz
Nov 7 2010, 06:14:14 AM
Yea, It is true that it is at the neck, because when I had these few dreams the dark spirit would be in the background and i would feel a sharp twitching pain in my neck and shoulders, pretty freaky stuff.
I'm getting goosebumps just reading this. JUst woke up in the middle of the night..
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
black man
The Right Hand
[ *  *  * ]
Spoiler: click to toggle
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous)
« Previous Topic · Korean · Next Topic »
Add Reply