What is the origin of the character "力," often translated in English as force/power. I have come across explanations based on the shape of a plow, and another explanation tying it to the word for "tendon." However, neither of those sources provided any historical evidence for their interpretation of the character.
1 Answer
「力」 is a picture of a plough (the farming tool). The word which this character originally represented is now written as 「耜」 (Baxter-Sagart OC: /*sə-ləʔ/); the meanings power, strength (/*k.rək/) are semantic extensions.
Palaeographic evidence for 「力」 being a picture of a plough is indirect, but is arguable due to the proximity of 「力」 to 「田」 (picture of a field or farmland) in the oracle bone inscription records. 「男」 (compound semantic field + plough > male adult, who traditionally did the job of ploughing the fields) is the most obvious example which survives, but we also have 「劦、⿱劦口」 (3 ploughs working together > to cooperate, now written as 「協」). From 《合集》1:
〔王〕大令【⿱日㐺】（眾）人，曰：【⿱劦口】（協）田𠀠（其）【⿳爫舟又】（受）秂（年）。
The King issued a Grand Directive to the masses, proclaiming: "Work together to plough the fields, so that we are conferred bountiful harvest."
The original picture which 「力」 represented additionally survives in other characters, albeit in corrupted forms. For example, 「爭」 (e.g. in 「靜」) is a picture of two hands 「爫」 and 「又」 on a plough 「力」, indicating the original meaning to plough (Baxter-Sagart OC: /*kˤeŋ/, now written as 「耕」); the current meaning to strive for (/*[ts]ˤreŋ/) is either a phonetic loan or semantic extension.
The definition of tendon (or variations of anatomy which indicates something to do with exerting effort, e.g. muscle, sinew, vein) comes from the Hàn-era Shuōwén Jiězì, which is published more than 1,000 years after the first appearances of 「力」:
筋也。象人筋之形。
Tendon/muscle. Looks like the shape of a human tendon/muscle.
We don't generally use something like Shuōwén Jiězì to explain characters if we have resources available which are closer to the date of first character appearance.
References:
- 蔡哲茂《商代農業卜辭研究》 pp. 37-38
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How does plow = power; strength? I kind of don't get this semantic extension. Commented Nov 26 at 0:29
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1@prismcool it's supposed to be a reminder of the physical exerted effort required to plough fields. In some societies, you'd get a dedicated beast of burden to do it efficiently, like a water buffalo in South-east Asia.– dROOOzeCommented Nov 26 at 0:34
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1@prismcool is thinking of a plough pulled by a motorized tractor :) Commented Nov 26 at 1:21
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@WayneCheah Not quite, I'm actually thinking about the plow depicted in the character haha Commented Nov 26 at 4:24