I've noticed two Korean name pronunciations which perplexed me when they were Romanized, Woo 유 (pronounced yu) and Lee 이 (pronounced i) aka Yi, Rhee; then I remembered this essay you wrote and it helped me a little bit more. Still not sure why 이 is Romanized to be Lee.
What a perceptive and exacting question that is... I actually have THE answer for that and it's a very tricky part of (South) Korean grammar. That Chinese character 李's real (original) pronunciation is "Li" or "Ri" (리). Remember how Koreans don't distinguish the R and L for the "ㄹ" sound. But the (South) Korean hangeul scholars of early 20th century thought that, based on how Koreans speak, starting (but not middle or ending) a word with a "ㄹ" consonant was unnatural. So, they came up with this grammatical rule that states "ㄹ" consonant will either turn into "ㄴ" or "ㅇ" consonants at the beginning of a word. So, "Li" or "Lee" (리) became Yi (이). So, the last name "Lee" would actually be the correct way of spelling the true sound of the 2nd most popular last name in Korea. Now, the North Koreans never followed suit with this. They thought there was nothing wrong with the beginning "ㄹ" consonant, just as the creator of hangeul King Sejong intended. (I personally happen to agree with the North Korean scholars on this one.) However, as North Koreans spell their last names as "Li," South Koreans will never do it -- they will spell it as "Lee." "Li" looks too much like the Chinese and North Korean last name. Besides, there is the British last name "Lee," so it was an easier transition, or romanization. This grammatical rule is called "두음법칙" if you want to look more into it.
Something extra: I don't know how familiar you are with baseball but there is a Korean pitcher in MLB with the last name Ryu (류). According to this grammatical rule, it was supposed to be Yoo, but it isn't. Why? Because certain lines of the Ryu family never bent to this rule and kept spelling their last name as 류, despite having to deal with administrative complexities with government offices. And you know what happened? The government caved in and legitimized the 류 spelling some years ago. But not all Yoo's are Ryu's -- they're different Chinese characters and is pronounced Yoo.
I've noticed two Korean name pronunciations which perplexed me when they were Romanized, Woo 유 (pronounced yu) and Lee 이 (pronounced i) aka Yi, Rhee; then I remembered this essay you wrote and it helped me a little bit more. Still not sure why 이 is Romanized to be Lee.
What a perceptive and exacting question that is... I actually have THE answer for that and it's a very tricky part of (South) Korean grammar. That Chinese character 李's real (original) pronunciation is "Li" or "Ri" (리). Remember how Koreans don't distinguish the R and L for the "ㄹ" sound. But the (South) Korean hangeul scholars of early 20th century thought that, based on how Koreans speak, starting (but not middle or ending) a word with a "ㄹ" consonant was unnatural. So, they came up with this grammatical rule that states "ㄹ" consonant will either turn into "ㄴ" or "ㅇ" consonants at the beginning of a word. So, "Li" or "Lee" (리) became Yi (이). So, the last name "Lee" would actually be the correct way of spelling the true sound of the 2nd most popular last name in Korea. Now, the North Koreans never followed suit with this. They thought there was nothing wrong with the beginning "ㄹ" consonant, just as the creator of hangeul King Sejong intended. (I personally happen to agree with the North Korean scholars on this one.) However, as North Koreans spell their last names as "Li," South Koreans will never do it -- they will spell it as "Lee." "Li" looks too much like the Chinese and North Korean last name. Besides, there is the British last name "Lee," so it was an easier transition, or romanization. This grammatical rule is called "두음법칙" if you want to look more into it.
Something extra: I don't know how familiar you are with baseball but there is a Korean pitcher in MLB with the last name Ryu (류). According to this grammatical rule, it was supposed to be Yoo, but it isn't. Why? Because certain lines of the Ryu family never bent to this rule and kept spelling their last name as 류, despite having to deal with administrative complexities with government offices. And you know what happened? The government caved in and legitimized the 류 spelling some years ago. But not all Yoo's are Ryu's -- they're different Chinese characters and is pronounced Yoo.
감사합니다