せく【塞く・堰く】 : seku | define meaning

Sense 2 is likely from Chinese 【塞】 "to stop, to block, to cram, to jam" (cf. Mandarin sāi, sè, sēi; Cantonese sak1; Hakka set; Min Dong sék, sáik; Min Nan sak, sek, siak, sat; Wu 4seq; Sino-Vietnamese tắc, tái; Sino-Korean 섹 saek, 새 sae; Sino-Japanese そく soku, さい sai).

Historical attestations:

• 万葉集 Man'yōshū (759) records several instances of its verbal and nominal forms glossed as "(to) dam", including [MYS.14.3545] 世久 seku, [MYS.2.197a] 塞益者 sekamaseba, [MYS.15.3734a] 世伎 seki.
• Vocabulario da Lingoa de Iapam (1603), aka Nippo Jisho (日葡辞書), records "xeqi, u, -eita" and provides several definitions including "to block (roads)", "to impede, to prevent (people from coming and going)", "to shut (a door)", "to be squeezed [jostled] by a crowd, to be crowded", "to feel pain (in one's chest or stomach)" and "to dam (the water of a river)".
• A Japanese and English Dictionary: With an English and Japanese Index (1867), by James Curtis Hepburn, records "Seki, -ku, -ita, セク, 咳, t.v. To cough." and includes examples such as "Seite neraremasen, I could not sleep for coughing. Seki wo [seku], to cough. Tan wo seki-dasu, to cough up phlegm".
• 日本大辞書 Nihon dai jisho (1894), by Binyō Yamada, records "〔せ（狭）ト同属〕サヘギル、ササヘル、セギル。「水ヲせく」「人ヲせく」".

Discussion:

• Unclear relation between せく【急く】 seku "to breathe with difficulty" (esp. in いきせく【息急く】 ikiseku "to pant, to gasp (for air)") , せく【咳く】 seku "to cough", せく【塞く・堰く】 seku "to block; dam" and historical senses of せく seku including "to block (a road)", "to shut (a door)", "to interfere (in relations)", "to feel pain (in one's chest or stomach)", "to be squeezed [jostled] by a crowd, to be crowded". Several sources (including the 日本国語大辞典) group these senses together under the same origin but exclude the sense of "to hurry".
  • The word  せき【関】 seki "gate, barrier" (historically for collecting a toll) is likely related to the senses of "block (a road)" or "shut (a door)".