18097
Why is the kanji for うん(運) the same as the kanji for 運ぶ? Did the kanji just
somehow end up being the same, or were the two meanings related somehow? All I
can think of is some kind of "carrying luck", but that doesn't seem right.
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2014-08-02T22:07:21.723
18096
2014-08-05T04:46:44.440
question
kanji etymology history
Why is the kanji for luck the same as to carry?
I think there are multiple interpretations of this character, but it's clearly
a combination of 辶 (from 辶) and 軍, which suggests the movement-related meaning
came first and "luck" was a derived meaning. But how was it derived? Here's
what Henshall has to say:

> 辶 is **movement** 129. 軍 is **army** 466 q.v. Some scholars take the latter
> in a literal sense, giving **army on the move** and by association
> **transportation** and the **fortunes** of war. Others take it to act
> phonetically to express **round** , as well as lending its own connotations
> of both **circle** and **vehicle** (from a circle of vehicles), thus giving
> a meaning of **vehicles rolling along** , and hence **transport**. **Luck**
> is then felt to stem from an association between fortune and circular/cyclic
> movement.

It seems like the exact way it came to mean "luck" is unclear, but there you
have a couple possible ways it could have happened.
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2014-08-02T22:55:05.317
18097
2014-08-02T22:55:05.317
18096
answer
This is speculation on my part, but I believe it is possible that when 運 is
used to mean one's luck or fortune, it may be interpreted as "[that which is]
carried".

To illustrate, consider the word 運命(うんめい), meaning destiny or fate. Taking the
two kanji apart, we have:  
運ぶ (はこぶ) meaning to carry  
and 命(いのち) meaning life.

So, synthesized, it would mean "the life that one carries" or even "the life
that one is made to carry".

As for why 運 without any object would refer to one's luck, it may refer to
that which is naturally and constantly possessed and thus the "default in
absence of others". A man stripped of all status and possessions would still
have his life, as it is part of him. And yet it can be the whole of him too,
since it seems that one's destiny is seen to be inescapable, decided by the
divine and placed upon one's shoulders.
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2014-08-05T04:46:44.440
18120
2014-08-05T04:46:44.440
6961
18096
answer