Analysis and history of 危

危 consists of 厃 and 㔾 and can be classified as “both semantic compound and phonogram”, with 厃 lending both meaning and sound, and 㔾 functioning as signific.¹ However, some scholars regard 危 as a pure phonogram.²

There might be a developmental connection between 厃 and the oracle bone script graph .³ Unfortunately, the only existing examples of usage of that graph in oracle bone script are as a name, therefore it is unknown whether its later usage was the result of a sound loan or the result of an extension of its original meaning. However, comparison with other graphs show that most likely represented a post or a stake of some kind, small enough to be manipulated with one’s hands.⁴

From the period of the Eastern Zhōu 東周 onward (770 BCE) in different regions different looking shapes of the graph 厃 developed (see the second row of Ochiai’s diagram below).⁵

Ochiai theorizes that as a result of variation in the way 厃 was written, at some point scribes no longer understood what 厃 represented graphically, and as a result of that reinterpreted the graph as “a dangerous situation where a person is on top of a mountain”. In separate developments “mountain” 山 was replaced with “cliff” 厂 and “sitting/kneeling person” 卩 was added. Later 卩 was replaced with its variant 㔾, resulting in current 危.⁶

The earliest recorded meanings for the graph 危 are “high, precipitous” (ca. 500~250 BCE ), “lofty” (ca. 475~221 BCE), “dangerous” (ca. 340~250 BCE).⁷

Until more early examples of 厃 are found, and given the apparent radical reinterpretation and consequently different standardization of the graph, practically speaking we can view 厃 as a new graph that started to be used from perhaps the 4th century BCE onwards for meanings or words like “high” and “dangerous”. The scribes thought these meanings were expressed by its components 厂 (interpreted by the scribes as a “cliff”) with a kneeling or sitting person on top.⁸

The addition of an additional sitting/kneeling person 卩 at the bottom right, happened already in the period of the Eastern Zhōu 東周 (770-221 BCE). This is indicated by two instances that Ochiai shows. One of the two also adds “earth” 土, while the other seems to have a horizontal line below 卩. The subsequent seal character only adds 卩, which led to modern 危.

The graph 厃 still exists, but might have existed only in dictionaries ever since Xǔ Shèn.⁹ Interestingly, while scribes transmitted the idea that the shape ⺈ on top of 厂 represented a person or a sitting person, at least from the time of Xǔ Shèn onward the knowledge that 卩/㔾 represented a sitting or kneeling person was lost. Xǔ Shèn identified shapes like 卩 and 㔾 as representations of symbols of trust and authority, like a tally.¹⁰

Lǐ et al. think that the addition of 卩 indicates that 危 is in fact the protoform of “kneel” 跪. However, Lǐ et al. seem to have no real examples of usage of 危 with the meaning “kneel”, while Schuessler does have examples of 危 as “high” or “dangerous”. This indicates to me that it’s not certain that 危 is the protoform of 跪, and could just be the phonetic in that graph.¹¹

Comments

As I indicated above, the graph 厃 (either the protoform or the phonetic in 危) is a historical character that probably fell out of use somewhere before 100 CE. The Kāngxī dictionary has also preserved the characters and 𡴲 and 𡵁. These are standardized older forms of 厃 that had already fallen out of use earlier. 𡴲 seems to be the variant that Ochiai mentions as the reinterpretation of as a person on a mountain, while 𡵁 looks like an undetermined variant.

Notes

References

• Chi 說文新證, 季旭昇 Chi Hsu-Sheng. 台北: 藝文印書館印行, [2004] 2014. (年9月二版).
• Hán Fēi 韓非子 (Hánfēizi, Book of Master Han Fei), 韓非 Hánfēi. [compiled after 233 BCE]. Translation by W. K. Liao. The relevant section can be found online searching for “Chapter XXXIII. Outer Congeries of Sayings, The Lower Left Series” at multiple places.
• Kāngxī dictionary 康熙字典 (Kāngxī zìdiǎn) [Kangxi Dictionary]. Imperial Commission of the Kangxi Emperor. Compiled under the direction of 張玉書 Zhāng Yùshū and 陳廷敬 Chén Tíngjìng, with contributions from other scholars. Beijing: 武英殿 (Wuying Dian), 1716.
• Kroll A student’s dictionary of Classical and Medieval Chinese, Paul W. Kroll. Brill. Leiden, 2015.
• Lǐ et al. 字源 (Zìyuán), 李學勤 Lǐ Xuéqín 主编 [editor in chief]. 天津 (Tianjin): 天津古籍出版社 (Tiānjīn gǔjí chūbǎn shè) [Tianjin Ancient Books Publishing House], 2012. ISBN 9787552800692.
• Ochiai (2022) 漢字字形史字典【教育漢字対応版】 (Dictionary of the historical evolution of kanji forms: Edition covering all Elementary school characters), 落合淳思 Ochiai Atsushi. 東方書店 Tōhō Shoten. Tōkyō Metropolis, 2022.
• Schuessler (2007) ABC Etymological dictionary of old Chinese, Axel Schuessler. University of Hawai'i Press. Honolulu, 2007.
• Xǔ Shèn 說文解字, 許慎 Xǔ Shèn . [CE 121].

CC BY-SA 4.0