Glyph origin of 器

Question

Somehow I'm not convinced of the classic interpretation that there is a dog 犬 needed to guard four vessels 口. Did 器 used to mean something else before being borrowed to mean "organ" or "tool"?

Answer 1

I don't think there's enough direct evidence for a definite explanation, but here's something which I think is plausible, and is fairly common among academic circles.

---

時期 字體	字形	參考資料
商 甲		粹470 合集30781
商 甲		前6.2.5 合集1082
西周 金		Ｘ簋 集成4097
春秋 金		秦公簋 集成4315
戰��・楚 簡		2.251 包山楚簡
東漢 隸		禮器碑

「器」 (喪器, burial device, funerary urn, or grave goods) is derived from the same character as the original form of 「喪」 (Baxter-Sagart OC: /*s-mˤaŋ/, mourning, burial), which is 「⿴㗊桑」; here, 「桑」 (/*[s]��aŋ/, mulberry tree, phonetic component of 「喪」) was later corrupted into 「犬」 to form the modern 「器���. 「㗊」 (multiple mouths > crying, wailing for someone's death) remained as a semantic component in both 「喪」 and 「器」.

The link between 「器」, spirit/funeral rites, and mulberry is hinted by several mentions in received texts; for example:

• 《禮儀・士喪禮》

  鬠笄用桑，長四寸，纋中。

  Etiquette and Ceremonial: Mourning rites for the common officer

  Hairpins for top-knots shall use mulberry, four cùn in length, to fix the knot in the centre.

• 《公羊傳・文公二年》

  虞主用桑，練主用栗。

  Gōngyáng Commentary: Second year of the Duke of Wén

  Post-burial memorial rite tablets shall employ mulberry, while first anniversary memorial rite tablets shall employ chestnut.

• 《周禮・春官宗伯》

  典瑞：掌玉瑞、玉器之藏，辨其名物與其用事，設其服飾。

  Rites of Zhōu: Offices of Spring

  The 「典瑞」 is in charge of the storage of jade tablets of accord (瑞) and jade devices of spiritual rites (器), distinguishing them by their topic and usage, and establishing their proper adornments.

To be clear, the characters 「器」 and 「喪」 represent completely different words, so the association of 「器」 with 「喪」 is indicative or ideographic (rather than linguistic).

---

References:

• 《古文字詁林》, volume 2, pp. 649-650