What is the meaning and etymology of the LEFT component of this character: 敢 ?
I have already checked Wiltionary and Chinese Text Project.
Thank you for the help.
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vividict.com/WordInfo.aspx?id=3733 The character 敢 looks like a hand holding a hunting fork against a wild boar in Oracle writing– Tang Ho ♦Commented Oct 4, 2017 at 5:52
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3 Answers
「敢」 (Baxter-Sagart OC: /*[k]ˤamʔ/, to hunt and pursue > to eagerly advance and push forward > brave) was originally a picture of two hands 「廾」 fighting a wild pig 「豕」 with a hunting weapon that looked like 「干」 (/*[k]ˁar/) or 「單」 (/*Cə.tˤar/), which may have simultaneously hinted at the sound. One of the hands was sometimes removed to leave behind a single hand 「又」.
Later on, the weapon was corrupted into a sound hint 「甘」 (/*[k]ˤ[a]m/).
戰國・晉
金
中山王圓壺
集成9734戰國・楚
簡
56.43
江陵九店東漢
隸
史晨奏銘
今
楷
Another weapon was added back to the hand to form 「攴・攵」, then the pig 「豕」 and the sound hint 「甘」 were corrupted and merged together, forming the left hand side of 「敢」.
References:
会意。本义:勇敢,有胆量. 同本义〖bold;courageous〗
(Logical aggregate. Original meaning: brave, having courage. [English] for the original meaning:〖bold; courageous〗
造字本义：徒手持械迎击野兽。
Original meaning of the aggregate: face beasts bare-handed armed.
"敢" is basically never changed from Hans dynasty.
The left part is more like a man and a wild boar who is trapped. As @Tang Ho mentioned.
