# 용케=用X?



## slowlikemolasses

What is the etymology of 용케? Does it come from 用?


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## Kross

slowlikemolasses said:


> What is the etymology of 용케? Does it come from 用?



用 means “to use”. So 용케 here has nothing to do with 用. 용케 is a shortened form for 용하게. 용하다 is its basic verb form. 용케 generally acts as an adverb meaning luckily or fortunately. For example, 용케 궁지를 모면하다 means that (someone) luckily escapes from a difficult situation. Regarding 용케’s origin, I am not sure where it comes from. Given that it seems to have no Chinese characters, I guess it is an original Korean word.


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## slowlikemolasses

Is is common to shorten ㅇ하게 type adverbs to ㅇ케?


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## Kross

slowlikemolasses said:


> Is is common to shorten ㅇ하게 type adverbs to ㅇ케?


 I am not 100% sure about that. In my opinion, the shift from ~하게 to ~케 very rarely happens.


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## slowlikemolasses

Is 용하게 commonly changed to 용케?


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## Kross

slowlikemolasses said:


> Is 용하게 commonly changed to 용케?


 As for 용케, it is commonly interchangeable with 용하게.


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## Kasumi Tsuyuiri

slowlikemolasses said:


> Is is common to shorten ㅇ하게 type adverbs to ㅇ케?



In literary language, contraction of 하게 into 케 is not common but quite  expectable, especially in an old-fashioned text (e.g. Korean Bible).

Note  that in words such as 결단코, 기필코, and 한사코, a similar contraction 하고 → 코  occurs. (In case of 용케, original form 용하게 is sometimes used. However, we  never say 결단하고, 기필하고, or 한사하고.)


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## Kasumi Tsuyuiri

용하다 seems to be a native Korean word. However, _The Standard Dictionary of the Korean Language_ lists similarly-pronounced Sino-Korean '영(靈)하다' in its 'see also' (참고 어휘) section.


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## Kross

Kasumi Tsuyuiri said:


> 용하다 seems to be a native Korean word.


You are right. The National Institute of the Korean Language(국립국어원) says that 용하다 is a proper noun or a native Korean word. So, the word has no Chinese word for it.


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## Kross

Kross said:


> I am not 100% sure about that. In my opinion, the shift from ~하게 to ~케 very rarely happens.


Sorry, What I said above is wrong. I have found many examples showing the shift from ~하게 to ~케 as an adverb. Here are some of them below.

감탄하게 -> 감탄케 “admirably”
달성하게 -> 달성케 “attainably”
실망하게 -> 실망케 “disappointingly”
간편하게 -> 간편케 “simply and conveniently”


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