麻立干

Mid-Silla folk etymology cited in the Samguk Sagi links it with Middle Korean 맗 (malh, “wooden pile, stake”) + Middle Korean 간(干) (kan, “chief”), the stake symbolizing the fixation of a rank in the hierarchy. Compare Korean 말뚝 (malttuk).

Might be cognate with Middle Korean 마리〮 (màlí, “head”) + Middle Korean 간(干) (kan), compare Korean 거서간(居西干) (geoseogan).

麻立干

1. (historical) a royal title of the ancient Korean kingdom of Silla, used as the kings' chief title from the fourth or fifth to the sixth centuries and attested in various spellings into the tenth century

   Synonyms: 居西干 (jūxīgān), 次次雄 (cìcìxióng), 泥師今 / 泥师今

   • 新羅王稱居西干者一，次次雄者一，尼師今者十六，麻立干者四。羅末名儒崔致遠作《帝王年代曆》，皆稱某王，不言居西干等。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     新罗王称居西干者一，次次雄者一，尼师今者十六，麻立干者四。罗末名儒崔致远作《帝王年代历》，皆称某王，不言居西干等。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: 1145, 金富軾 (Kim Bu-sik), 《三國史記》

     Xīnluó wáng chēng jūxīgān zhě yī, cìcìxióng zhě yī, níshījīn zhě shíliù, málìgān zhě sì. Luómò míngrú Cuī Zhìyuǎn zuò “Dìwáng niándài lì”, jiē chēng mǒu wáng, bù yán jūxīgān děng. [Pinyin]

     Of the Silla kings, the geoseogan numbered 1, the chachaung 1, the isageum 16, the maripgan 4. The famed scholar of the end of the Silla era Choe Chiwon wrote Jewang yeondaeryeok, where they are all called 'X king', and not geoseogan or the like.

麻立干 • (maripgan) (hangeul 마립간)

1. hanja form^? of 마립간 (“title of the Silla kings”)