2천여 년 동안 한자를 사용한 베트남에는 지금까지도 한자의 영향이 닿지 않은 곳이 없다. 고대에 한자가 베트남의 다방면에 영향을 준 것은 부인할 수 없는 사실이다. 과거의 베트남은 한자를 ‘성현지자(聖賢之字)’, ‘재도지자(載道之字)’ 등으로 불렸고 그 위상이 매우 높아 문맹인 백성들은 한자가 적힌 폐지 한 조각을 보기만 하면 반드시 허리를 굽혀 줍는 등, ‘결석자지(敬惜 字紙, 문자가 적힌 종이를 귀하게 여기는 것)’의 문화가 존재했다. 반면, 지금의 베트남은 명승고 적, 절, 사원, 서적에 모두 한자가 적혀져 있지만 90%의 베트남인들은 자신의 조상들이 쓴 문자를 이해하지도 읽어내지도 한다. 베트남 학자들은 음수사원(飲水思源, 물을 마실 때는 그 근원을 생각하다. 즉 근본을 잊지 않다) 한 베트남 민족이 오늘에 이르러 ‘망본(忘本, 근본을 잃다)’하였음을 슬프지만 인정할 수밖에 없었다. 이로 인해 학자들은 서로 연합하여 베트남 정부에 한자의 재활성화를 요구했다.

The development of Nom characters is promoted on the basis of and in attachment with Chinese characters, and in this regard the Phonetic Annotation of the Thousand Character Classic 《千字文解音》 compiled in the late Nguyen Dynasty in Vietnam was a very practical textbook for learning Chinese characters and Nom characters. Based on categorizing Nom characters, the paper intends to clarify several notions on Nom characters of the Phonetic Annotation of the Thousand Character Classic. In the beginning, Nom characters can be divided into two major types: the directly borrowed Chinese characters and the independently invented ones. The former includes borrowing sounds, meanings, and both. The latter, according to the components of Chinese character formations, can be divided into the pictophonetic of Chinese characters and that of Nom characters. In the last part of the article, we summarize the relationship between Chinese characters and Nom characters. It is necessary not merely to consider the relationship but to understand the comparisons between them. With the aid of studying Nom characters, we can find that irrespective of whether they are directly-borrowed from Chinese or independently invented, the sound of Chinese characters is the most important feature for them. But we cannot ignore the ideographic parts of Nom characters because they, on the one hand, make up the phonetic deficiency of Chinese characters while promoting the development of Nom characters on the other. In our modern society, Chinese characters and Nom characters came to drift apart, and the latter especially was withdrawn from the historical stage, but the traditional culture of Vietnam is still recorded in literature both in Chinese characters and Nom characters. Moreover, the Nom character is one of the most important representatives of Vietnam’s traditional culture. For this reason solely, this research shall be a great help to further understanding of significant cross-cultural aspects between China and Vietnam, and more specifically of histories related to the spreading, application, and development of Chinese characters in Vietnam.

The use of wine vessel Measure words in ancient Vietnamese inscriptions is very complicated. These characters are some examples which are recorded wine vessel quantifier in ancient Vietnamese inscriptions, such as, yu (􄘃)􀉾yu (􂙪)􀉾yu (􃮚)􀉾yu ( )􀉾yu ( )􀉾bo (􆆣)􀉾bo ( )􀉾bo ( )􀉾 cheng (􂜖)􀉾cheng (􂎉)􀉾xiu (􄻟)􀉾xiu ( )􀉾xiu ( )􀉾xiu ( )􀉾xiu ( )􀉾 xiu (􁼯)􀉾hu (􂠻)􀉾hu (􂠸)􀉾hu (􅀢)􀉾ping (􂚫)􀉾lu (􇿪)􀉾weng (􄑖)􀉾zhai (􆺌)􀉾 zhai ( )􀉾jing (􂫒)􀉾ping (􂞁) and zun (􃥾). Above words are compared and analyzed with the use of wine vessel measure words in Chinese. We found measure word Characters for Vietnamese wine vessel are influenced by China. This kind of phenomena reflects Chinese character being studied imitated and innovated by Vietnamese in the course of spread.

Basing on analyzing the linguistic material in Quốc âm thi tập (􀊆􂙌􆜴􅦪 􆘇􀊇) written by Nguyễn Trãi 􆕯􂸍 (1380-1442), this article conducts a research on Chinese-borrowed words in ancient Vietnamese, and develops several concepts to classify Chinese-borrowed words. Due to the author’s viewpoint, ‘Vietnamese Chinese-loaned word’ refers to all Vietnamese words borrowed from Chinese language and Chinese scripts that were used in the 15th century Vietnamese language. This article then argues, the influence of Chinese scripts and language on the 15th century Vietnamese is so strong that it could help to contribute 63.37% rate of the Vietnamese vocabulary.