Etymology of 走

[OneEye]

Yeah, that character has a really difficult/complex etymology. I asked Ash about it. Here's his response:
 

Quote

 

There are three spoken words sāng "mulberry tree (which also symbolized making funeral arrangements)," sàng "to make funeral arrangements" and qì "burial container." The character for sàng "funeral arrangements" was derived due to sound and meaning connections from the character for sāng "mulberry tree." The character for qì "burial container" was derived from the character for sàng "funeral arrangements" due to a meaning (but not a sound) connection. Obviously the sounds given here are the modern reflections and not the Old Chinese sounds.

The problem here most likely lies in the fact that the characters being discussed don't look related in the modern script.
器 is derived from 喪. 桑 was the sound component for 喪 (but not for 器). In 器, 犬 is a corruption of 桑. 喪 originally meant "death; funeral arrangements," while 器 originally meant "burial container." The relationship between 器 and 喪 is based upon form and meaning, while the relationship between 喪 and 桑 is one of sound and meaning (apparently, 桑 symbolized making funeral arrangements).

 

Re: 哭 & 器

 

The chance of a sound connection here is very slim (different main vowels, different codas). It's probably a case of 同形異字. How many 口 get added to a given character varies. For 器, it sometimes had 2, sometimes 3, sometimes 4. For 哭, the 犬 is not a corruption, while it is a corruption in 器. 哭 is composed of 犬 and 吅, which are giving meaning, the original meaning being "the sound of wailing."