personally; firsthand; through one's own experience
Emphasizes direct personal involvement, often with one's body or actions. Used to convey that something is learned or understood by doing it oneself.
He experienced the danger firsthand.
Teaching through personal example is the most effective.
Used with verbs like 逃れる (escape) or 免れる (avoid) to mean escaping by a very small margin. Often implies a close call.
He barely escaped the danger.
辛うじて means 'barely' or 'just barely' and is a more common adverb for narrow escapes, whereas 身をもって in this sense is a set phrase used with specific verbs like 逃れる.
Standard kanji-kana spelling.
Formal or literary variant using the kanji 以.
Irregular kanji usage; 持 is not standard for this expression.
The phrase combines 身 (body, oneself) with をもって (by means of), literally 'with one's body'. The second sense of 'barely' likely developed from the idea of escaping with only one's body intact.