What is the glyph origin of 害?

Question

I am currently doing research for the character 害 (hài; injure, harm; destroy, kill) and from my understanding, there are many theories regarding the origin on this character.

For one thing's for sure when I was going over the theories for 害, I know that the character was NOT composed of semantic components 宀 and 口 and phonetic clue 丰 (as these two sounded very differently in old Chinese as seen here in the Zhengzhang OC: 害 = /*ɡaːds/ ; 丰 = /*pʰoŋ/).

This is a mistake that was presented in the 說文解字 when Xu Shen analyzed the character.

For reference, this is what 害 looked like in bronze script:

However though, going over the theories of this character, these are some I could find:

Theory 1: A picture of a lid over a vessel. The original meaning is "lid", is the original form of 蓋, and was phonetically borrowed to mean "harm". (Dong Lianchi, Guo Moruo, Dai Jiaxiang).

Commentary: It's possible the character may depict a lid over a vessel as 口 can sometimes be used to represent an opening (e.g. 各, 公). But I'm not too sure yet of this theory.

Theory 2: A picture of a spearhead with distinguishing mark 口 at the bottom. The original meaning is "to injure, harm" and is the original form of 𥎆. (Ji Xusheng, He Linyi, Outlier Linguistics Dictionary of Chinese Characters)

Commentary: Looking back at the oracle bone inscriptions and in 說文新證 by Ji Xusheng when the character was used as a component in 𦵯, it's highly likely that the character originated as a picture of a spearhead but the problem is, I cannot find any other character which uses the spearhead shape as a component in other characters. Unless if I missing anything, I don't really know if the spearhead-shaped component was used in any other characters.

Theory 3: A picture of house rafters, with the upper part resembling the beams and pillars of a house and the lower part resembling a base. It's possibly a variant of 舍, the phonetic clue 古 was added later, and was the original character for 桷. The original meaning is probably likely "disaster, calamity". (Gao Hongying, Ma Xulun, Li Xueqin)

Commentary: May be possible, but at the same time, 宀 during bronze script was probably not written like that as shown above. Also along with that, the sound component 古 may be possible as they seem a bit similar in Old Chinese as shown here in Baxter-Sagart OC:

• 害 = /*N-kˤat-s/, /*m-kˤat-s/
• 古 = /*kˤaʔ/

Still though, this theory is likely not possible.

Theory 4: Picture of a molding implement being cut open after the casting has been cooled down. Similar in origin to 割, in which it is explained as a picture of a knife cutting open a molding implement. (Xu Jinxiong)

Commentary: Looking at the ancient forms above, I'm not sure if this one is true because the shape of 害 doesn't seem very "molding implement" to me. I just can't see the picture of this one so it's probably also likely not possible.

This was all the theories I could find regarding the origin of this character. Unless if I miss any theories, what is the origin of the character 害? What's the theory that's closest to the truth to this character? Which one is likely widely accepted? I know this character has an "unknown origin" but I would like to find out the most recent/closest theory for this glyph.

I need some assistance with my research here since this character has so many origins and I cannot determine which one seems to be the closest to the truth. Thanks!! :)

Answer 1

I think this is one of the stack exchange questions that would be best answered by yourself. The reality is ehat you are looking for does not exist. History is not an exact science, and it is physically impossible to say anything in history happened with complete confidence-- etymology is no exception.

Some word history theories have tons of evidence to support them, and are extremely educated theories that are likely true. Even they aren't guaranteed.

Most words are not that lucky. The theories existing are still extremely educated guesses based on all we know, but we just don't know that much. If 50% of your theory is filled in guess work, there is nothing to make it more likely than someone elses theory with 50% guesswork.

remember those puzzles when you are a child, a bunch of dots that are numbered, and you draw a line between them to create a picture? etymology is often like those puzzles without the numbers, and they are just combining their knowledge of that character and other parts of history to draw a realistic picture, without knowing if that was the original with number version.

You as the viewer//peer evaluate the likely theories and decide which you personally believe make the most sense. It is possible that in a few years a new historical text will be discovered, fill in another 5% of the picture, and all these theories will be replaced by ones with only 45% guesswork etc etc etc.

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If you want advice on how to decide which to subscribe to, look into papers and studies analyzing and breaking the different theories down. That can help you compare which ones you personally believe make the most sense. Then you can answer the question, since this is an opinion and not factual stance and can't be answered traditionally. :)

Answer 2

How to penetrate the heads of the ancients who first wrote this character? What ideas did they have at the time? What did they wish to indicate? We can only guess. Theory just sounds more scientific!

I know that the character was NOT composed of semantic components 宀 and 口 and phonetic clue 丰

Whence cometh such surety?

spearhead: 矛头

The part of 害 that resembles a spearhead is 宀, the top of 1 in the picture above. Thus, spearhead, a good guess, but wrong designation perhaps.

A triangle-shaped mouth, not a spearhead:

「口」 甲1277合31446

口 may also indicate a hole of some kind.

丯 jiè: 野草的古称。 But 丯 jiè may also indicate a stick with counting marks.

Thus we have Theory 5: 害: numerous spear holes: injured, but not dead

𠕛 hé:【字彙補】卽害字。讀作曷。

Answer 3

Okay, after researching this character's original for a long time now, I can finally safely make a reasonable conclusion for the origin that I've looked up after acquiring He Linyi's 《戰國古文字典：戰國文字聲系》and pouring time into my own research. Before I do that though,

DISCLAIMER: The explanation of this character's origin can vary by source and what I'm explaining here is purely speculative followed by some educated guesses based on what I've researched.

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害 (hài; injure, harm; destroy, kill) was possibly originally a picture of a pointed spearhead. During the bronze inscriptions, a distinguishing or decorative mark 口 was added later to the bottom of the character.

It should be noted that in some interpretations of this character, 口 is seen as phonetic clue 古 due to the fact that the middle stroke from the spearhead's pole connects with 口. This may be a possible considering 害{*N-kˤat-s} and 古{*kˤaʔ} are almost similar in Old Chinese.

The original meaning of this character was probably "spearhead" or "a type of weapon like a spear", in which case the word that now represents the original meanings is written as 𥎆.

As for the modern meanings themselves, it's fairly straightforward on how "spearhead" was extended to mean "injure" and "harm".

spearhead/a type of weapon like a spear --> injure, harm --> destroy --> kill

So yeah, that's my explanation on the origin of 害 after doing research on this character for a while now. I hope everyone finds this informative! :)

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Sources

• 何琳儀 《戰國古文字典：戰國文字聲系》pg. 898
• 季旭昇 《說文新證》 pg. 601-602
• 李學勤 《字源》 pg. 662-663
• 小學堂
• Wiktionary
• zi.tools