Why is the descriptive quantitative expression coincident with the expression of possession in many languages?

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One kind of descriptive expression is the description of quantity. Below are some examples of descriptive expression of time:

English: an hour's journey

Chinese: yixiaoshi de lucheng

Japanese: ichijikan no michinori

French: voyage d'une heure

Icelandic: eins tíma ferð

All the parts marked in bold are also the fundamental elements indicating possession in each language, such as "Peter's house".

What is the semantic relevance that makes the two kinds of expression identical? or what are some other factors lead to it?

asked Aug 27 '20 at 13:42

wodemingzi

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Are you certain that the explanation is semantic? – user6726 Aug 27 '20 at 16:12
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Possession is the usual default interpretation for noun - noun constructions, as in Hebrew, for instance. When a default marker is used between the nouns, it usually also can be used to signal possession. – jlawler Aug 27 '20 at 21:11

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