Is "arigatou" derived from portuguese "obrigado" ?
Rafael Santos
Hello all,
Does anybody knows the origins of "arigatou" ? I know that the kanjis
are "ari" (exists, is) and "gato" from "kata.i", (difficult). The
question is, why the ending is "gatou" ? A friend think that it's
because the word with the same meaning, "obrigado", which pronunciation (sp?)
sounds like arigatou. I think that it's just a coincidence - hard to believe
that the Japanese will change part of a word to Portuguese.
I believe that "gatou" is just an ending to the word.
Does anybody haves any idea ? Post here or mail, please.
Rafael.
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Corwyn Miyagishima
>Does anybody knows the origins of "arigatou" ? I know that the kanjis
>are "ari" (exists, is) and "gato" from "kata.i", (difficult). The
>question is, why the ending is "gatou" ? A friend think that it's
>because the word with the same meaning, "obrigado", which pronunciation (sp?)
>sounds like arigatou. I think that it's just a coincidence - hard to believe
>that the Japanese will change part of a word to Portuguese.
>I believe that "gatou" is just an ending to the word.
>Does anybody haves any idea ? Post here or mail, please.
The word "arigatou" comes from the adjective "arigatai". "Arigatou gozaimasu"
is a very formal way of saying it. Usually, however, an "o" is put before the
adjective as well.
Ending changes:
ai --> ou
ui --> uu
ii --> yuu
oi --> ou
Examples:
hayai --> ohayougozaimasu
medetai --> omedetougozaimasu
So I don't think that "arigatou" is based on the Portuguese (I think that
Japanese were able to thank each other long before the Portuguese came to the
island ;)
Hope this helps.
+------------------+
Corwyn Yasuo Miyagishima |\ o |\
Harvard University, '96 | \ \o_ | \
cmiy...@husc.harvard.edu (UNIX) | \ \ | \
cmiy...@husc3.harvard.edu (VMS) | \ \\ | \
USA '94
Jack Roberts
>
>Hello all,
>
>Does anybody knows the origins of "arigatou" ? I know that the kanjis
>are "ari" (exists, is) and "gato" from "kata.i", (difficult). The
>question is, why the ending is "gatou" ? A friend think that it's
>because the word with the same meaning, "obrigado", which pronunciation (sp?)
>sounds like arigatou. I think that it's just a coincidence - hard to believe
>that the Japanese will change part of a word to Portuguese.
>I believe that "gatou" is just an ending to the word.
>
and is used in sentences like "katai desu" (it is difficult). The
honorific form is "Katoo gozaimasu" which means the same thing, but is
used to show respect towards the person you are addressing. Ari is the
form of the verb "aru" used to make a compound word, and the K in katai
turns to G for euphony. So "Arigatoo gozaimasu" means "it is difficult"
(for me to express my gratitude, repay the favor, or whatever other else
you want to imply.)
Other times the "oo" ending is used in common speech include "Ohayoo
gozaimasu" which is constructed from "hayai desu" in the same way, except
the O is added before the adjective. Despite claims by many linguists, it
is not related to a state in the Midwest. Beware of false cognates,
because there are very few that exist. The link between and Portuguese is
restricted to loan words such as "pan" and "Kasutera". Also, the link
between Japanese and Turkish is theoretical, and although Japanese is
considered an Ural Altaic language and Turkish is considered an Uralic or
Ural Turkic language, even the theoritical relationship is more distant
than the relationship between cats and dogs.
By the way, I might not be up to date on the latest scholarship, so if
anybody has a recent reference on this matter, I'd appreciate knowing.
Most of my information on the history of Japanesecomes from a book
written by Kindaichi Haruhiko about 20 years ago.
Jack Roberts
(no .sig file)
NAKANO Yasuaki
>san...@mickey.ai.kyutech.ac.jp (Rafael Santos) writes:
>>Does anybody knows the origins of "arigatou" ? I know that the kanjis
>>are "ari" (exists, is) and "gato" from "kata.i", (difficult). The
>>question is, why the ending is "gatou" ?
>is a very formal way of saying it. Usually, however, an "o" is put before the
>adjective as well.
>Ending changes:
>ai --> ou
>ui --> uu
>ii --> yuu
>oi --> ou
These ending changes are systematically understood as the vanishment of "k"
sound.
An adjective changes to "ren-you-kei" (adverb-like form) before a verb, an
adjective or an ajective verb. The ending of this form was (and is) "-ku".
Examples:
arigatasi -> arigataku gozarimasu -> arigata(k)u g. -> arigatau -> arigatou
kitusi -> kituku gozarimasu -> kitu(k)u g. -> kituu -> kituu
utukusi -> utukusiku gozarimasu -> utukusi(k)u g. -> utukusiu -> utukusyuu
omosi -> omoku gozarimasu -> omo(k)u g. -> omou -> omou
where "g." denotes "goza(r)imasu".
Yauaki Nakano