Re: Semantic content of 'thank you'

Hi James,

On Tue, 6 Jun 2006 "James W." <emindahken@...>
wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> In my current project, &#257;seka`eni, I need to come up with a
> way to express thanks. I'm interested in what you all have
> done in your own languages, or any natlangs you know of. I
> am particularly interested in unusual semantic content, but
> whatever you can contribute is appreciated. I make no guarantee
> that I won't copy something that comes in reply to this. :-)
>
> I will post the &#257;seka`eni version and give due credit to the
> inspiration in a later post.
>
> Thanks!
> --------
> James W.
Natlangs:
Malay uses "terima kasih" - "receive love
(affection)".  Iban and Kadazan both use forms
that appear to be derived from this widespread
usage.  Interestingly, for another aspect of polite-
ness, where English says "Please (give me ...)",
or "May (I have ...)", both Malay and Kadazan use
words meaning "Can (I have ...)", while Iban instead
uses words meaning "Try (I have ...)".

Spanish uses "gracias" - which in one sense at
least is the plural of the noun "grace, elegance",
with synonyms "encanto, elegancia".  The first
of these reminds me that ...

French uses not only "Merci" - "Thanks", but
also "Enchanté" - "(I'm) enchanted".  So there is
a common thread of magic here, which you
might wish to exploit.

Arabic uses various forms of the verb "Shakara",
eg "Shukran", generally translated as "Thanks",
but also carrying a distinct overtone of gratitude;
"tashakkara" can mean "to be thankful" or "to be
grateful".

Conlangs:
I don't think speakers of my conlangs have ever
yet felt the need to express gratitude ... ;-)

Regards,
Yahya

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