Why's 言 the semantic component of 謹?

[scherzo]

How does 言 semantically appertain to the original meaning (本義) of 謹? What semantic notions underlie them? They look completely unrelated to me!

 

Below I scanned 汉字源流字典, pp 1665-6.

 

 

[aprilz]

I recommend a good resource to check the origins of Chinese characters: http://www.chinese-linguipedia.org/search_source_inner.html?word=謹 

After inputing "謹", this is the explanation:

金文從言、堇聲。戰國文字、篆文、楷書同。「謹」的本義是恭敬慎重，恭敬慎重最直接的表現在言語，因此從「言」為義符。從「堇」聲有兼義的功能，「堇」的金文作「」，像人被火燒，遭逢艱難。人遭逢艱難就會趨向謹慎，因此「謹」字從「堇」聲可能有兼義的功能。在六書中屬於六書兼會意。