이 논문의 目的은 方言資料를 통하여 ‘獨島’가 ‘돌섬’의 방언형인 ‘독섬’의 漢字借用表記임을 밝히는 것이다. 자료 조사는 크게 두 가지로 실시되었는데 하나는 書面조사와 現地조사를 통한 실제 方言조사이고 다른 하나는 방언자료집에서 해당 자료를 蒐集하는 것이다. 방언 조사를 통하여 울릉도에서는 ‘돌섬’과 ‘독섬’이 사용되었음을 확인할 수 있다. 이전 어른들은 ‘獨島’(38.8%) 외에 ‘독섬’(26.5%)과 ‘돌섬’(18.4%)이라 불렀다는 사실은 주목할 만하다. 여러 방언 자료집을 검토한 결과 현재 울릉도에서 사용하는 어휘 중 ‘버찌’를 뜻하는 ‘뻔’과 ‘함박눈’을 뜻하는 ‘솜눈’이 전라도 특히 전라남도에서 사용하는 어휘로 조사되었다. 이로 보면 ‘독’이 전남 방언이란 주장은 힘을 얻게 된다. 또 ‘독’이란 형태는 그 외의 지역에도 매우 넓게 분포된 것임을 볼 수 있었다. 따라서 ‘石島’와 ‘獨島’는 ‘돌섬’이나 ‘독섬’의 異表記임이 분명하고 ‘독’은 ‘돌’의 方言임이 분명하다.

The purpose of this research lies in clarifying the fact that Dokdo(독도) is a borrowed sino-letters form of Dokseom(독섬) which is also pronounced as Dolseom(돌섬) in dialect through the study of dialect data. Data investigation was carried out in two ways. One was based on the examination of dialect used in real life through the field and paper survey. The other was to collect corresponding data from a dialect source book. The result revealed that in Ulleung island both Dolseom(돌섬) and Dokseom(독섬) were still in use. Particularly, it is significant to note that there were a number of people who remembered that Dokdo used to be called as Dokseom(26.5%) or Dolseom(18.4%) rather than Dokdo(38.8%). It is commonly pointed out that dok(독) is a dialect form of dol(돌) in Southern Jeolla province. It is reinforced by the assertion that some of Jeolla dialect remain in Ulleung dialect. The example words which originated from Jeolla dialect but are still used in Ulleung island include peon(뻔) meaning 버찌(cherry) and somnun(솜눈) meaning 함박눈(large snowflakes). Added to that, the form, 독, turns out to have a wide-spread use in other areas. ‘Dolseom'(돌섬) consisting of stones would be indicated as ‘石島’(Seokdo) when borrowed from its meaning and maybe as ‘乭島/突島’ (Dolseom) from its pronunciation. Likewise, ‘Dokseom'(독섬) would be ‘石島’(Seokdo) and ‘獨島’(Dokdo) respectively. Taking all the aspects into account, it is clear that Seokdo‘石島’ and Dokdo‘獨島’ are surely written forms of Dolseom(돌섬) or Dokseom(독섬) and dok(독) is the same as dol(돌) in dialect.