# All Slavic: bodaprosti - equivalent usages in Slavic languages



## metaphrastes

Hello.

Romanian language has an expression, or greeting, from Slavic influence: _*bodaprósti *_or less commonly, _*bogdaprósti*. _This greeting is used to give thanks for any gift received in God's name or for God's sake - say, a friend or a priest gives you a paschal egg or any blessed object, and you say _"bodaprósti!". _A beggar may say the same expression when receiving alms. As you surely already know, it comes from the Slavic expression _"Bog (Boh) da prostí", "may God forgive _[_your sins_, or _the sins of you beloved ones, living or deceased_, it is implied]_". _The tradition of giving alms or gifts for the sake of forgiveness is very old and spread all around, as you know.

Now, my question is: is there any equivalent usage in Slavic languages in general (including Russian among them), subsisting today as a kind of standard greeting in such situations?

Once I was said by a Ukrainian young woman that one should _never _say _thank you _or _spassiba, dyakuyu, _when receiving a Paschal egg. In Romanian, it would be easy to simply say _bodaprósti! _What about Slavic languages, in particular?

Thank you... oops! Bodaprosti!


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## bibax

In Czech instead of simple _děkuji_ we can use:

*Bůh ti (po)žehnej!* = Let God bless you! Gott segne dich!
*Bůh ti to oplať!* = lit. Let God repay it to you!

However it is very rarely used nowadays, no standard/common substitution of _děkuji_ (< Germanic _denken_).
There is a movie "Bůh ti žehnej, Ozzy Osbourne" (lit. let God bless you, Ozzy Osbourne), but it is a translation of the English title.

Btw, spasibo < spasi bog (lit. let God redeem).


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## Christo Tamarin

In Bulgarian, *Bog da prosti* (*Бог да прости*) is used exclusively about dead persons. It means something like RIP. Literally, Let God forgive him/her/them.


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## rusita preciosa

The general Russian word for thank you is *спасибо */spasibo/. 
It come from* cпаси бог */spasi bog/, may god save you.


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## Милан

Christo Tamarin said:


> In Bulgarian, *Bog da prosti* (*Бог да прости*) is used exclusively about dead persons. It means something like RIP. Literally, Let God forgive him/her/them.


The same for Serbian.
Thank you is just хвала/hvala or sometimes благодарим/blagodarim.


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## metaphrastes

Christo Tamarin said:


> In Bulgarian, *Bog da prosti* (*Бог да прости*) is used exclusively about dead persons. It means something like RIP.


Thank you, it makes all sense. Maybe I was reading too much within the Romanian greeting, and it would be meant primarily about the deceased ones.
Anyway, would it be used in Bulgaria when receiving, say, a Paschal egg, and no one just died?



Милан said:


> The same for Serbian.


Thank you, hvala! Would it (Bog da prosti) be used in Serbia, too, when receiving, say, a Paschal egg, and no one just died?


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## Милан

No, we just say 'hvala'.


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## metaphrastes

Милан said:


> we just say 'hvala'.


хвала!


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## Christo Tamarin

Especially at Pascha, the greetings are: *Христос възкресе! - Наистина възкресе! *

Paschal greeting - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

.. even when receiving eggs ..


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## marco_2

In Polish we say *Bóg zapłać!* (literally: _May God pay you!_) This expression is used by beggars receiving alms or by very religious people (instead of common _Dziękuję! = Thank you!_). The custom of giving Paschal eggs is not popular among Catholics here.


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## metaphrastes

marco_2 said:


> In Polish we say *Bóg zapłać!* (literally: _May God pay you!_)


Thank you. It is interesting, because in Portuguese the old usage is saying *"Deus lhe pague"*, that means exactly "May God pay you!" It is used either if one receives alms, or any special favor or benefit that one has no way to reciprocate or repay immediately. Maybe this later expression has roots in Latin Christianity, that would explain the identical meaning in so distant countries, geographically and linguistically.

EDIT: and now, I just realized it is identical to one of the possible Czech greetings, given by bibac, that seems to confirm this idea.

_By the way, the pronunciation would be roughly as _"Bog zaplach" (Бог заплач)_, right?_


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## marco_2

metaphrastes said:


> _By the way, the pronunciation would be roughly as _"Bog zaplach" (Бог заплач)_, right?_



It's /bug zapuač/ with very soft "č" - similar to Russian ч, as you suggested, and "u" in _zap*u*ač_ doesn't form a syllable, like e.g. in Spanish g_u_apo_._


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## Panceltic

In Slovenian, we just say 'hvala' for thank you.

There is also the expression "Bog lonaj!" (God pay) which is sometimes used for giving thanks. It is not very widely used though.


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## Michalko

Slovak thanks:
Regular: Ďakujem
Religious: Pánboh zaplať. (Let Lord God pay)


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## metaphrastes

Thank you again for all your contributions!


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## DarkChild

Christo Tamarin said:


> Especially at Pascha, the greetings are: *Христос възкресе! - Наистина възкресе! *
> 
> Paschal greeting - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
> 
> .. even when receiving eggs ..


*Воистина* is the widely accepted and used greeting.

And regarding Bog da prosti, it is also widely used when the relatives of the deceased give away food to friends and relatives shortly after death but also on anniversaries - 40 days, 1 year, etc.


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