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I may be wrong, this is the way I always imagined it. Maybe Sensei can fact check the etymology.
田 +丨= 由 (field - enter and leave) 自 + 由 + 人 = self (not sure the etymology) + reason (own reason to do things) + person
A person with own reasons for doing things is free. ps: the field is an aerial view.
自 + 由 + 人 = self (not sure the etymology) + reason (own reason to do things) + person
You are spot on with the meaning break down. 自由 has a literal meaning of "self reason". And a person who do things for "self reason" is free.
田 +丨= 由 (field - enter and leave)
It's doesn't have anything to do with entering and leaving the field. 由 existed way back.
And it did not resemble 田.
Nice reasoning though.
and thanks for showing my the true etymology. Super interesting.
Yeah, I tried to make that clear (but perhaps I did not) when I said the way I 'imagined' it which is useful as a strategy to employ, particularly as a second language learner.
The book I started learning Mandarin with [Tuttle] emphasizes this approach and I believe if you look at modern dictionaries today, the character does utilize those components from the 'field' radicle.
Thank you for the breakdown! :)
That's really helpful, thanks.
Thanks for this. The aerial ps really helped too.
Great choice of material today. My western brain tried to look at those characters to find some symbolic manifestation of freedom. No luck, unless you see it as a box with a guy climbing out of the top and breaking free? Doesn't quite work.