Why's 木 (tree; wood) the semantic component of 檢 (arrange; collate; inspect; search; restrict, regulate)?

[scherzo]

How does 木 semantically appertain to 檢? What semantic notion underlies them? Their meanings feel unrelated to me!

Axel Schuessler, ABC Etymological Dictionary of Old Chinese (2007), p 304.

 

 

汉字源流字典 by 谷衍奎编 (2010), p 1202.

 

[Jim]

Because of bamboo slips on which texts were written, including tallies and lists, and these both needed arranging and collating and were the part of the essential equipment of of those clerks who inspected and searched and recorded and enforced restrictions and regulations. (To reply to the title rather than OP body text)

[yaokong]

On 3/15/2022 at 6:00 PM, scherzo said:

How does 攵 semantically appertain to 檢致?

 

You ask about 攵 in relation to "檢致", I will be assuming that is a typo (木 in 檢 already explained by Jim) and you just meant to ask here about "致":

• Karlgren says about 致 that 攵 (pu1, aka 反文旁, "beat, strike" or "hand holding a whip", see also 扑) was formerly 夂 (zhi3), "a foot pointing downward", and the the primary meaning being "go to".
• Outlier's Dict. of Cn. Char.  mentions about 致 that 攵 was formerly 夊(sui1), "a person with an emphasized foot" (Outlier) {"man walking with tied legs" (Karlgren)} , and the original meaning of the character was "to arrive at; deliver to".

 

[scherzo]

Thanks both. @yaokong Sorry for my typo. I meant to ask merely about 木 in 檢. But I am glad that you posted, because what semantic notions underlie "foot pointing downward" and "an emphasized foot" with "go to" and "to arrive at; deliver to"?

 

 

[fenggz]

检说文解字白话版

检，书内的标签。字形采用“木”作边旁，“佥”是声旁

 

Eng:

检，a bookmark/tag in a book. 木 as its radical ，佥 as its phonetic component.

 

PS:ancient bookmark is made of/by wood.