Subtle and Dangerous: The Crossbow Trigger Metaphor in Early China

Abstract

The crossbow trigger was a powerful device in early Chinese warfare that had a profound impact on military tactics. Against such a background, the word for trigger, namely ji, became a pregnant metaphor in ancient texts from the Warring States onwards. It refers to the correlation between a subtle initial state and a dangerous and far-reaching consequence, because the small movement of pulling the trigger may kill a person at a great distance. Borrowing insights from Hans Blumenberg's metaphorology, I offer a new theory of the original meaning of ji and argue that the trigger mechanism inspires a complex metaphorical scheme that consists of three levels of ambiguities and a web of associated images. It provides a linguistic and cognitive pattern for organizing a wide range of heterogeneous life-world situations, from the moral precariousness of human speech to the vulnerability of an outnumbered army in battle.

弩機是中國古代戰爭中威力巨大的機械裝置，對戰國時期軍事策略以及作戰方式都產生了影響深遠。在弩機的物理功能基礎上，上古漢語中的“機”（及其同源詞“幾”）發展為一則具有豐富內涵的隱喻，意味著一個“微小”的初始狀態引發了“危險”而災難性的後果。本文擬借鑒德國哲學家漢斯.布魯門貝格的“隱喻學”方法分析“機”的本義及其喻義，並指出“機”代表的不只是一個隱喻詞，而是一個囊括了三層歧義和多種關聯意象的隱喻體系。這一體系將生活世界中的諸般經驗（如朝廷中的人言可畏和戰場上的以少勝多）組織起來，並賦予其共同的語言及認知形式。