갖추다 / 거세다

(Listening to Pet Sounds by the Beach Boys. Outstanding record of sophisticated, catchy, thoughtful music and lyrics. Give it a listen!)

갖추다 1) prepare, get ready for, make arrangements for
           2) be equipped, furnished with
           3) possess, be equipped with, be endowed with
           4) to maintain respect and manners

After thinking for a while about my last post, I think I made an error in my idea that 감추다 has its roots in the 이히기리우구추 principle for native verbs. All it took was thinking of one solid example of how 추 is added (the one that came to mind was 맞다 - 맞추다) and I realized my error. It's very possible that 감추다 is simply a standalone verb.

On the other hand, 갖추다 is conspicuous in its relation to 갖다. Here we have a verb pair that follows, what I'll call for a lack of a better term, the consonant harmony principle. I am in need of some serious review of how 이히기리우구추 works, and to be more exact what its purpose is (not sure now whether it acts as both the rule for turning verbs into short form passives or simply turning them from intransitive to transitive verbs) but that's what this blog is all about for me - getting me to think about these things (and hopefully others as well).

Anyways, 갖다 - 갖추다 follows this principle, at least ascethetically. 추 is added to a verb that has a ㅈ 받침.  Now the verb 갖다 means to have or take something. 갖추다 looks to have a more nuanced meaning. The first meaning is to prepare, get ready for, and make arrangements for. Sentences pulled from Naver:

반격 태세를 갖추다
prepare to counterattack

여정을 갖추다
prepare for a journey

나는 대학 지원 서류를 모두 갖추었다.
I prepared everything for my college application.

A quick Google search confirmed my hunch that you can also say 준비를 갖추다. Now this might be a stretch, but I've always found the best translation for XX어 가지고 or XX어 갖고  is "having done XX". There's an abstract meaning that indicates the speaker has the results of doing XX verb. With regard to 갖추다, the speaker has all the necessities for carrying out their plan. You can say 준비를 갖추다, which is redundant (redundancy is a signature of Korean in my opinion), but drives home the point that all preparations have been made, that all the necessities involved in preparing for something have been taken care of. Because 갖추다 has this core sense of preparation, you can simply take out the 준비를 and make the object of your preparation the linguistic object (을/를). Thus, 반격 태세 is what you're trying to do, and by 갖추다ing it, you have put into position everything you need in order to carry it out.

The second meaning is to be equipped with, furnished with. Some example sentences:

최신 시설을 갖춘 호텔
a hotel with very modern facilities

이 호텔은 방마다 냉장고가 갖추어져 있다.
Each room in this hotel is furnished with a refrigerator.

이 사무실에는 소화기가 갖추어져 있지 않다. 
This office is not equipped with a fire extinguisher.

This is a more literal meaning for 갖추다. Something has this, is furnished with something. This meaning seems to be solely used for places, or maybe when this verb is used with verbs it takes on the sense of "furnished with". But this is really just splitting hairs, because I see this as a nuance in translation when compared to the next meaning, to be equipped with, to possess, be endowed with, all referring to people.

그는 성악에 천부적인 재능을 갖추고 있다.
He's endowed with vocal talent. 

그는 교사로서 충분한 자격을 갖추고 있다.
He is a well-qualified teacher (has all the qualifications for being a teacher).

그녀는 법률 지식을 충분이 갖추고 있다.
She has a strong background in law (is sufficiently knowledgeable on law).

As with above, this is simply a different way of stating that someone has something, typically something in the abstract (talent, skill, knowledge), although this is not the rule (to be qualified means you have the qualifications, maybe in the form of a certificate, a degree, or some other kind of education). Notice the conjugation of the verb in the present progressive (고 있다). This does not mean, however, that the basic present tense conjugation cannot be used (갖춘다). It can and is used.

The fourth meaning is interesting. To maintain respect or mind one's manners.

예의를 갖추어 인사하다.
greet formally

어른을 대할 때는 예의를 갖추도록 해라.
Mind your manners (be respectful) with adults (elders).

This meaning seems to be a fixed expression, The object is 예의 and by 갖추어ing it, you are doing everything to see that your manners are top-notch and you are respectful. In Korean society, I would imagine the laundry-list includes: upright posture, a command of 존댓말, especially when greeting and saying goodbye, proper bowing, two-handed handshakes, turning your head away when drinking a glass of alcohol, tea, etc, etc.

거세다 1) fierce, strong, violent, wild

My immediate reaction to this verb is that it is like 세다 (to be strong, violent, rough), but simply slightly more extreme. It also seems to be be used less often than 세다 is, and has maybe a smaller, more defined scope of nouns and circumstances it can be used in. Let's look at some example sentences from Naver:

강의 물살이 거세다.
The river's current is strong. / There's a strong current in the river.

그들은 평결에 거세게 항의했다.
They strongly opposed (protested) the verdict.

거센 반대에도 불구하고 법안이 통과되었다.
The law passed despite fierce opposition.

불길이 거세다.
The fire raged.

While 세다 can refer to weather, personality (stubbornness in particular), resistance, soju, luck, etc, 거세다 seems to be confined to mostly weather and resistance, opposition, or criticism (especially politically). That being said, I've seen 성격s referred to as 거세다, as well as 불만 and even 관심. My feeling is that this adjective is really just an order of magnitude more extreme than 세다 is, and thus is reserved for when the speaker wishes to emphasize the power or fierceness of whatever it is they're talking about. Of note, politics in Korea are can become pretty ridiculous (even violent). I've heard a number of educated Koreans refer to politics in Korea as 혼란스럽다 (chaotic). Google "south korea, politics, fire extinguisher" for a taste of what politics can be like here. But politics anywhere can be toxic. In English we don't usually refer to a college debate club as having a "toxic environment", even in the most heated discussion. However, American media often describes the Washington DC echo chamber as being "toxic" with "fierce opposition". I suppose politics is the same everywhere.