The origin of the expression ありがとう (arigatoo)

Sakura
edited July 2012 in Japanese
ありがとう (Arigatoo) is one of the most important expressions in Japanese. What's the origin of this expression?

ありがとう (Arigatoo) comes from the i-adjective ありがたい (arigatai), which is basically the combination of ある 
(aru) - "to exist" + ～がたい (...gatai) - "hard to...".

So the i-adjective ありがたい (arigatai) means "hard to exist" or "rare". 

Thus, what the expression ありがとう originally means is that you appreciate to receive such a valuable and precious deed. 

... and if you are curious about ございます (gozaimasu) as in ありがとうございます (Arigatoo gozaimasu), it's just a kind of ending that makes the whole expression extra polite!

ありがとう！

Comments

  • AlanN
    So funny... I recently heard someone say that it came from the Portuguese 'obrigado' (thank you), which seemed crazy to me. Now I can back up my claim that this Portuguese story sounded fishy.
  • Sakura
    edited March 2013
    Yes, that's a false claim! 
    You can now tell the true origin of the phrase to your friends with confidence. (^-^)/
  • aafg
    Interesting, I learnt in school that expression come from portuguese.
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