Etymology of Thanks
Contents
Introduction
In November 2021, James Vukelich [sic] did a live "Ojibwe Word of the Day" on Facebook discussing "It is Thanksgiving Day", "Miigwechiwi-gizhigad" and the origin of the Ojibwe word "Miigwech". He said the term breaks down into "mii" (it is) and "gwech" (sufficient, enough) and is only about 450 yrs old and originating from when the Anishinaabe started trading with Europeans and ended their bartering by saying "It is enough," which evolved into meaning "thank you".
This recent origin struck me as odd, for such a fundamental concept in Native American cultures to have such a recent name. Then, amateur linguist that I am, I turned my mind to the term "thank you" in other languages that I know, namely Indo-European languages. And it suddenly struck me that it must have a relatively recent origin in those languages also, since there are so many differences.
Many words are conserved in the related Indo-European languages, for example: brother, brat, frater; one, odin, eun; etc. But then we have thanks, spacibo, merci!
Per "How we Got "Please" and "Thank You"
https://www.themarginalian.org/2013/07/25/origin-of-please-and-thank-you/
In English, the term "thank you" is apparently derived from "think" with the intention of remembering what has been done/given.
Portuguese, "obrigado" is roughly cognate with our phrase "much obliged" as in, "I am in your debt."
In French, "mercy" is cognate with "mercy", and you are putting yourself at the mercy of the other, again, indebted.
Replying, "you're welcome" or "it's nothing" (de nada) or "my pleasure" is to cancel out the social debt.
The author points out that this notion of a social calculus of debt is a feature of middle-class morality, extravagantly developed in the USA, originally developed during the commercial revolution of the 16th and 17th centuries in commercial settings, and it spread from there. Per David Graeber in Debt: The First 5,000 Years.
thank (v.)
Old English þancian, þoncian "to give thanks, thank, to recompense, to reward," from Proto-Germanic *thankōjanan (source also of Old Saxon thancon, Old Norse þakka, Danish takke, Old Frisian thankia, Old High German danchon, Middle Dutch, Dutch, German danken "to thank"), from *thankoz "thought; gratitude," from PIE root *tong- "to think, feel."
It is related phonetically to think as song is to sing; for sense evolution, compare Old High German minna "loving memory," originally "memory." Also compare related Old English noun þanc, þonc, originally "thought," but also "good thoughts, gratitude." In ironical use, "to blame," from 1550s. To thank (someone) for nothing is recorded from 1703. Related: Thanked; thanking. https://www.etymonline.com/word/thank
Ta, cheers, much obliged: A brief history of 'thanks' in English
...There are several different ways to express the idea in English, many of which reflect different levels of formality. At the more casual end of the spectrum, for example, you have a word like ‘ta’, originally a childish form of ‘thank you’ (dating from the 18th century), but now commonly used as a straightforward colloquialism. Or the word ‘cheers’, which developed this sense in the 1970s, leading The Times to comment that ‘By a remarkable transition from the pub to the sober world at large outside cheers has become the colloquial synonym in British English for “thanks”.’
Other expressions reflect slightly different conceptions of what’s involved in our relationship with the person we’re thanking. Psychologists draw a distinction between gratitude and indebtedness. In the former you simply appreciate or acknowledge an act of help or kindness. In the latter, you feel that because of this kindness you now owe something to that person. When we use a phrase such as ‘much obliged’, or ‘I owe you a debt of gratitude’, we’re reflecting this second aspect of the relationship. Other European languages similarly use words which have developed initially to reflect this tradition. The Portuguese word obrigado, for example, comes from the past participle of the Latin obligō – ‘I bind in obligation’. The standard expression of thanks in French also develops from a term relating to transactions and debts: Merci derives originally from the Latin merces, meaning ‘wages, payment, reward for service’. The Italian grazie and the Spanish gracias, on the other hand, both derive from the Latin gratias agere – simply meaning ‘to express gratitude’ – much as we say in English, ‘I am very grateful’.
The most common phrase in English, however, remains ‘thank you’... This usage dates back to the fourteenth century, and is simply a shortening of the more complete ‘I thank you’...
Digging further into the history of the phrase we find that it derives originally from the word ‘think’. In Old English (c.450 – c.1100) the primary sense of the noun ‘thank’ was ‘a thought’. [much as song is related to sing, see above] From there, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, the meaning moved to ‘favourable thought or feeling, good will’, and by the Middle Ages it had come to refer to ‘kindly thought or feeling entertained towards any one for favour or services received’ – i.e. much the meaning it has today. We could therefore paraphrase its meaning as: ‘for what you have done for me, I think on you favourably’.
All slavic: "thank you" forum
https://forum.wordreference.com/threads/all-slavic-thank-you.2241633/
In our Russian it is "спасибо". But how to say "thank you" in other slavic languages?
Researching of our slavic languages and a history of origine of our slavic words it is interesting for me. For example our Russian "спасибо" it is modern short form from ancient Russian phrase "спаси Бог (тебя)" (= God save you.) )
In the West Slavic languages we have the verb děkovati, ďakovať, dziękować, etc. (= to thank), derived from Old German(ic) Denk, denken = to think.
N.B. It is not derived from Dank, danken (= to thank).
Czech: děkuji (I thank), děkujeme (we thank) Slovak: ďakujem, ďakujeme Polish: dziękuję, dziękujemy
In Bulgarian, we have благодаря (ти), which roughly translates to I give good (to you). Благ = good, даря = to give (дар = gift). We also use the French мерси (merci).
Дякую or спасибі in Ukrainian.
Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian: hvala.
BCS has hvala, which approximately means "praise", and more distantly "glory". It is cognate to Polish chwała, 'glory'.
Maybe, but I'm just speculating, it also has religious origins, from "hvala Bogu", which now means "thank God". In modern BCS, that phrase reads "slava Bogu" (praise the Lord).
Macedonian has благодарам (formal) and фала (informal).
In Czech we also say "chvála Bohu" (= praise to God), however it does not mean "thank you".
Blagodarim should exist as an archaic/poetic term in Serbian at least. Doesn't it?
Yes, and it is still in use, though very rarely.
...For example our Russian "спасибо" it is modern short form from ancient Russian phrase "спаси Бог (тебя)" (= God save you.) )
...Maybe, but I'm just speculating, it also has religious origins, from "hvala Bogu", which now means "thank God". In modern BCS, that phrase reads "slava Bogu" (praise the Lord).
This reminds me - some Bosnian speakers will say Allah/Bog te nagradio ("May God reward you") instead of or in addition to Hvala.
In BCS it is quite often hvala ti / hvala vam, which clearly means praise to you, not to God.
You could also say zahvaljujem, which has meaning similar to blagodarim, and could be translated as much obliged. Although, it isn't expected to return the favor, as one might assume from obliged (obligation).
Because спасибо got reanalysed as an interjection and its grammatical function became a noun. Now we have храни тебя Господи/Боже instead. By the way, Russian too has благодарю (although it's quite formal), but saying хвала! (praise!) to a person is definitely too pretentious for our taste.
