Singi-dong (신기동, 新基洞) is the former name for the Bundang administrative dong, Jeongja1-dong, in the city of Seongnam.
The word Singi-dong is a transcription of the area’s original name Sai-tah (셋터) into Chinese characters, or hanja. It comes from the name Sai-tah mal (셋터말), or Sai-tah village, which was once a small community on the west bank of the Tancheon. The pure Korean word Sai-tah is composed of two Korean words. The first one, sai, which means new (셋 = 새로), can be expressed in hanja as 新 (신, sin). The second syllable, tah (터), which can mean foundation or site, is written as 基(기, gi ). Mal, or maeul, (말 = 마을), means village. Of all place names in Korea, this one is arguably the most common.
[edit] History
During the Joseon Dynasty, Singi-dong was part of Geumgok-ri in the townhip of Nakseng, Gwangju County. In 1971, it became party of the newly incorporated municipality of Seongnam. Then in 1991 when Bundang was established as a district of the city, this area became part of Geumgok-dong. This was not to be long lived since in 1996, parts of Geumgok-dong and Jeongja-dong were combined to form Singi-dong. Finally in 2001, it was renamed to its current name, Jeongja1-dong.
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