Here's a little something I learned (03OCT23)

As most of y'all know, I'm living and working and learning in Korea.  Obviously, one of the things I'm doing (and not well or swiftly enough, in my own personal opinion) is learning Korean. I AM learning, just slowly. One of the first things I learned was:

감사합니다

(Gahm Sah Ham Nee Dah)

which is what Koreans use for ‘Thank You.’  What is interesting to note is that what the word does is to combine 감사 (Gahm sah) which means ‘thank’ or ‘gratitude’ with the verb form 하다 (hah dah). So, in its literal form, what is being said is “I do thanks.”  How interesting!

Some other interesting beginner word(s) I learned were 아녕히 가세요(Ah Nee’Yuhng Hee Kah Say Yoh) and 아녕히계세요  (Ah Nee’Yuhng Hee Kay Say Yo).  They BOTH mean ‘goodbye’; however, you use the first one when you are the one staying behind and the second when you are the one leaving.  They mean, in order, ‘Peacefully, go’ and ‘Peacefully, stay.’    I often wonder, when I say these words as I’m leaving a shop, if the original meanings are something the native Korean thinks about as they say it or if they have just become words with their modern meaning.  

Then I read somewhere very recently about the origins of our English word ‘Bye' and I realized that most Koreans prolly don't think about the original meanins because I certainly haven't internalized the original meaning of our English word with the same meaning.  I’m pretty sure most people realize that 'Bye' is a shortened version of the word ‘Goodbye’.   Didja know that even ‘goodbye’ organically grew, changed, shortened, and lengthened in its own history? 

Descending in history, here is how it seemed to have gone:

–Bye!

–Goodbye!

–Godbwye!

–God be with ye!

‘Goodbye’ is a contraction of ‘God be with you (til we meet again–LOL) in its essence.  How interesting! I know for certain that I don’t think ‘God be with ye!’ whenever I say ‘Goodbye’ (although, certainly, I should!)    

Anyway, y’all–here’s a little something I learned!