What semantic field underlies 涵 for it to mean 'soak, immerse' and 'tolerate, be lenient'?
The semantic extension is as follows:


To be soaked in water
To have a large capacity to hold water
To have a large capacity to tolerate bullshit
To be lenient (e.g. lenient on someone for their wrongdoings)




References:


《漢語大詞典》