"Thank You"

[hockeyophile.livejournal.com]

Does anyone know the origin of the Russian word "spasibo" (sorry, my computer is crazy and I just can't install Cyrillic onto the system), meaning "thank you"? I'm familiar with most of other Slavic languages enough to notice that they use a form from their word meaning "to thank" (Czech 'dekuju' and Bulgarian 'blagodarya', as just two examples), however, "spasibo" looks nothing like the Russian verb for "to thank" (which is similar to the Bulgarian word). Can anyone tell me the origin of "spasibo"? Thanks!

Comments

[sanin.livejournal.com]

Спаси Бог, God save you.

[quem98.livejournal.com]

It's actually from the Russian orthodox tradition
"Spasi"- from the root for to save
"Bog"- God

So you're essentially saying "God save you" every time you say thank you. I could be wrong on this, but I think "spasi" is in an old slavonic form.

That's the best I can do.

Interesting that Bulgarian is Blagodarya resembles the Russian word for "Thanks to"... It makes more etymilogical sense then spasibo... But living languages are crazy like that.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_irene_/]

"спасибо" comes from "спаси, боже"

[welgar.livejournal.com]

In Russian you can also use the word "благодарю" instead of "спасибо" but it's quite obsolete and formal.

[kahala.livejournal.com]

Incidentally... loving your icon. I've got Brat 2 on video, but it's all in Russian, so I can't show it to any of my friends :( I keep playing them the soundtrack though!

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

Yes, спасибо is "спаси Бог" (may God save you) that shortened as centuries went by.

[med99.livejournal.com]

"Спаси" is an actual Russian form, too.

Russian has a verb, благодарить, meaning "to thank", and its 1st person singular — благодарю — is another way of saying "thank you", albeit formal and somewhat pompous.

[vladon.livejournal.com]

благодарю = благо дарю = giving good, giving bless