Glossary Term
Risk: Critical- Approved rendering
- 하나님
- Transliteration
- Hananim
- Rejected alternatives
- 하느님, 천주, 산신령
God
CRITICAL: this package standardizes on 하나님 (Protestant usage, popularized through the late-19th-century Korean Bible translation tradition, built on 하나 ‘one’ plus the honorific 님, emphasizing explicit monotheism). NEVER substitute 하느님 (Haneunim), the Catholic and general-secular term, more etymologically neutral toward Korea’s pre-Christian folk sky-god concept tied to the Dangun founding myth (Hwanin, the heavenly father-god); this package uses 하나님 not because 하느님 is wrong but for Protestant curriculum consistency and its built-in monotheistic emphasis. NEVER use 천주 (Cheonju, ‘Lord of Heaven,’ the Korean Catholic term parallel to Chinese 天主). NEVER use 산신령 (a mountain spirit-deity from Korean shamanism/folk religion) or treat 하나님 as one of many spirits (신, sin) in the shamanistic pantheon.