An inanimate object being the agent?


Two instances where I noticed an "inanimate" object being the agent that I
can't quite make sense of - I hope both sentences are related to the question:

[goo dictionary entry for
侍る](https://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/word/%E4%BE%8D%E3%82%8B/#jn-179139)

> ［動ラ五（四）］《「はべ（侍）り」が「侍 (じ) す」 **の意に意識されて**
> 意味の変化したもの》身分の高い人のそばに付き従っている。かしこまってその席などにいる。「芸妓を―・らせる」

I'm not a 100% sure how I would put the bracketed part into good English but I
believe it's essentially saying that the meaning of「侍 (じ) す」influenced the
meaning of 侍る, i.e. people consciously had the meaning of じす in their head
when thinking of 侍る? What I don't understand is why it's 意に意識される instead of
something like じすの意を意識して. Why is the word the agent of the passive form here?

Which made me think of this sentence I've seen before but couldn't quite
figure out either (the description of a rather small sword in a game):

> とある戦士が百獣の王をモチーフに作らせた剣。その様相はまるで **人々からの視線に気づかないか** のように狭く短い。

_It's as if its shape is deliberately short and narrow so as to go unnoticed
by people._ is what I can come up with on the spot. Why not 気づかれない? Why is the
sword's shape "not noticing the people"? How does that make sense? Could that
just simply be a typo or is this a legit way of expressing that idea?




> 「はべ（侍）り」が「侍 (じ) す」の意に意識されて意味の変化したもの

In this sentence, に does not stand for the demoted subject in passive, but an
original に argument.

> 「はべり」を「じす」の意に意識する  
>  ("conceive はべり as the meaning of じす")
>
> →「はべり」が「じす」の意に意識される

For more advanced discussion, this is not a "passive" (受身) but "spontaneous"
(自発) sense of -れる. This usage is typically seen with mental verbs to mean that
some idea "naturally" _occurs to_ someone. In this context we can translate it
like:

> Into which _haberi_ 's meaning changed, having been susceptible to
> association with _jisu_

* * *

> とある戦士が百獣の王をモチーフに作らせた剣。その様相はまるで人々からの視線に気づかないかのように狭く短い。

The passage is almost apparent to me as an instance of personification (or
lion-ification; 百獣の王 is a fixed epithet for lions). Isn't the weapon decorated
with a lion's face or something? Then the description treats this sword as a
real lion, which is animate.

**Edit** : Okay, I overlooked a question in the last paragraph...

> その様相はまるで人々からの視線に気づかないかのように狭く短い。

should be understood

> Its profile is short and narrow as though it took little notice of people's
> gaze.

