The verb affix -오리-

Question

I was listening to a podcast on Hasoseo-che and they stated this biblical verse as an example

내가 주의 율례를 지키오리니, 나를 아주 버리지 마옵소서

My translation: I will guard your laws so I implore you do not abandon me utterly.

On Naver i found that 리 expresses intention ["주어가 어떤 일을 할 의향이나 의지가 있음을 나타내는 어미"]

Is 오리 the same ? Or does 오 add extra politiness ?

Answer 1

These inflections are in the “…하오” register _{(하오체 Hao-che)}:

• “-(으)리다” _{(e.g. “지키리다,” “먹으리다.”)}
• “-(으)리이다” _{(e.g. “지키리이다,” “먹으리이다.”)}

and these are in the “…하십시오/합쇼” register _{(하십시오체/합쇼체 Hasipsio-che/Hapsyo-che)} and the “…하소서” register _{(하소서체/ᄒᆞ쇼셔체 Hasoseo-che)}:

• “-(으/사)오리다” _{(e.g. “지키오리다,” “먹으오리다,” “먹사오리다.”)}
• “-(으/사)오리이다” _{(e.g. “지키오리이다,” “먹으오리이다,” “먹사오리이다.”)}

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Meaning

All those inflections denote pledges and determination of the subject.

Politeness

The “…하십시오” register (or “speech level”) is politer than the “…하오” register and includes the “…하소서” register, the highest and politest, yet dated, register in the language. So, yes, the “-오-” adds extra politeness.

Others

• You can extend the “-리” in both inflections into “-리이-,” and doing so, they sound even more literary, old-fashioned, and poetic (when those inflections are already pretty poetic without it).
• The additional affix “-(으)-” or “-(으/사)-” is affixed if the verb stem ends with any consonant but ㄹ.
• You can conjugate them however you want, taking off the “-다” ending and adding some others, such as the linker “-니.”

See also

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_speech_levels

Answer 2

①

First, in terms of word-searching, you can try and look up for 어미 '-오리다'.

In 표준국어대사전,

-오리다² 【어미】(←종결어미, conclusive ending) 　「참고 어휘」: -으오리다 (←이형태)

((받침 없는 용언의 어간, 'ㄹ' 받침인 용언의 어간 또는 어미 '-으시-' 뒤에 붙어))

「1」(예스러운 표현으로) 하십시오할 자리에 쓰여, 동작이나 상태에 대한 추측이나 견해를 나타내는 종결 어미

• 곧 물이 차오리다
• 그것이 이보다는 크오리다

「2」(예스러운 표현으로) 하십시오할 자리에 쓰여, 자신이 할 동작의 의향이나 약속을 나타내는 종결 어미

• 제가 일을 맡아 하오리다.
• 오늘은 일찍 가오리다.

TL: ▲ allomorph: -으오리다 ▲ antique style conclusive ending; attaches to a yongeon's stem that ends in a vowel (=no 받침) including '-으시-' or in a 'ㄹ'. ▲ sense 1: in an occasion to go hasipsio (=in hapsyo/hasipsio-che), it expresses a supposition or a view/opinion on an action or state ▲ sense 2: in an occation to speak in hasipsio, it expresses an intention or a promise about an action that one will take

And I presume you know that -으- is a 매개모음 (bridging vowel, epenthetic vowel), correct?

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②

Yes, your guess is about right.

There are allomorphs -옵-, -으옵-, -오-, -으오-, which are

"(예스러운 표현으로) 서술이나 의문에 공손함을 더하여 주는 [선어말]어미" 　　-표준국어대사전

TL: (as an antique style) an [pre-final] ending that adds politeness to speaker's statement or question

and as you probably already know, when you look up -리다, the definition is pretty much the same as the form with -(으)오-.

so you may say "지키오리니" is either a)지키다 + -오리다 then conjugated with connective ending *-니- * or b)지키다 + bunch of endings = 지키- + -오- + -리- + -니

also, out of three kinds of 경어 (존경-공손-겸양), the -옵- series expresses 겸양* (and indirectly 공손*)

*공손(법): "politeness". honorifics toward the hearer. This is aka 상대높임법 (addressee honorification) in school grammar. (this is where speech levels belong)

*겸양(법): "humblness"/"humility". AKA 객체높임법 (object honorification, in sch gmr) or 자기낮춤 (self-lowering, humbling). Indirect honorifics by humbling oneself or respecting a thing that's a part of or very closely related to the referent or an act/thing given toward them. (e.g. 드리다, 모시다, 말씀, 따님, 진지, 연세, 주무시다 etc)

this being said (tmi incoming), the series is eventually related to and cognate with -삽- series as well as -잡- series, and also -습- of 합쇼체 어미 -습니다. (e.g. 성은이 망극하옵니다, 전하를 뵈옵고 (-옵-); 점포를 이전했사오니 (-사오-); 안녕하시와요 (-오-); 당신을 믿사옵고 따르옵니다 (-사옵-, -옵-); 말씀을 듣잡다/듣자오니; 밥을 먹삽고, 저희가 그 사람을 믿었삽더니)

so, as you see now, -오- in "지키오리니" and -옵- in "마옵소서" are the same thing: used for humble sense.

p.s. (another tmi) btw, it's interesting that -리다 morphologically looks like 해라체 or 하라체 for it has zero honorific morpheme applied, but speech level-wise it belongs to 하오체, thus its politeness level is slightly addressee raising (예사 높임) …which is similar to the case with -ㅂ시다 ― morphologically appears to be 합쇼체 (아주 높임, greatly addressee-raising) but actually belongs to 하오체; although a clear misinterpretation since a) its -ㅂ- has nothing to do with -ㅂ- of 합쇼체 and b) its -시- has nothing to do with -시- of 존경/주체높임. Not of the same origin. Just a coincidence.