What exactly does 几 mean in 凱? Which 几?

Question

CUHK vouches that 凱 hails from

從「几」，「豈」聲，表示軍隊得勝所奏的樂曲。《陳書‧晉熙王叔文傳》：「（叔文）隨晉王、秦王等獻凱而入，列於廟廷。」

But Wiktionary lists 5 different meanings for 几, the semantic component! Collins lists 2. And none of them mean 为军队得胜归来所奏的使军 队振奋的乐曲! Which fits 凱e?

Answer 1

凯 originates from "恺", it's like the variant form of “恺” (From the Han dynasty, this separation is more apparent, and after the 六朝, everyone uses 凯). The important part of this character is “岂“， which means "drum" in this context. (There's your connection to 为军队得胜归来所奏的使军 队振奋的乐曲!“).

The “几” comes from here. (Maybe explaining in Chinese helps) 军胜还师振旅乐饮酒吃肉是岂之范式, 以桌形器具为几之范式. 岂、几两范式叠加得“凯”. So "几" means the table at which they eat after they win a battle, "岂" is the drum that plays the song celebrating the victory...

"凯" also takes the meaning of "peaceful and happy" "安乐；温和" because "《诗》用古字有“岂弟(tì)”一语，是和乐平易之义" e.g.:

凯风自南。——《诗·邶风·凯风》

Ancient Chinese is much different from what we have now, we mustn't look at them from the meaning we have today.

Hope this helps!

Answer 2

「几」 does not mean anything in 「凱」.

「凱」 (Baxter-Sagart OC: /*C.qʰˤəjʔ/, triumphant music) is comprised of simultaneously semantic and phonetic 「豈」, and phonetic 「几」 (/*C.kr[ə]jʔ/).

「豈」 is the original form of 「凱」, but eventually was borrowed as a word marking a rhetorical question (/*C.qʰəjʔ/) via the rebus principle. The loss of associating 「豈」 to the word for triumphant music may be the reason for complexifying 「豈」 with an additional sound hint 「几」 to form 「凱」.

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Glyph origin of 「豈」

Shāng-era drum; drums like the one above are what the character 「壴」 depicts.

商
甲

甲2770
合集27694西周
金

壴鼎
集成1175春秋
金

王孫遺者鐘
集成261戰國・楚
簡

性自命出49
郭店楚簡
楷


　

篆

豈部
說文解字西漢
隸

縱橫145
馬王堆帛書三國・魏
隸

魏封孔羨碑
　
楷


　

「豈」 (original character of 「凱」, triumphant music) originates from an alteration of 「壴」 (/*[k]ˤaʔ/, now written as 「鼓」), which depicts an ancient drum.

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References:

• 李學勤《字源》
• 小學堂字形演變

Answer 3

"從「几」" indicates the radical of the word "凱" is "几", and the explanation that followed explains the word "凱", not "几".

Examples - [律]字從「彳]; [路]從 [足]; [瞭]從「目]....

Answer 4

Fascinating stuff, etymology! Infuse symbols with meaning!
I am certainly not an authority on etymology, this is just what I found.

几 jǐ: small table or stool

凱 kǎi (Other pronunciations 其它发音: Not exists.)

Compound 凱
from stool (or small table) 几 jǐ (not- 𠘧 shū)
and related phonetic drum (岂)豈 qǐ simp 凯.

Component 豈𧯛 （original meaning: joy)
from (rem+ 山 shān a-hand)
and (rem+ 豆 dòu drum) B085 岂[豈]
new-char 岂. (name- drum (岂)豈 kǎi)