Why Do Bulgarians Use The French Word Merci?

Bulgarian is a language that perplexes foreigners, especially when they try to decipher the Cyrillic alphabet on street signs or learn the letters. Most of the words don’t ring a bell unless you have studied another Slavic language like Russian or Serbian, and only from time to time you hear something familiar like the French merci for ‘thank you’ or the Italian ciao for ‘goodbye’.

It is not that Bulgarians don’t have a word for ‘thank you’. Their word to express gratitude is ‘blagodarya’ (pronounced blah-goh-dah-rya) and they use it along with the French, with subtle variations in meaning. If you spend a little more time in the country though, you will notice that the French equivalent can be heard very often, if not more often. In order to understand why Bulgarians use a French word for “thank you” so often, you will have to delve into a little history.

Bulgaria gained its liberty from the five-century rule of the Ottoman Empire in 1879. As a young country that had been part of an Oriental state for so long, it strived to create its independent image on the world stage and stand proud as a European country. So a strong trend of negating everything influenced by the Ottoman era, from clothing to language, swept the country. This was the time when Bulgarians started wearing European clothes (as opposed to the Oriental costumes they used to wear before), furnishing their homes with Viennese cupboards, tables, and chairs, and searching for new words to substitute the ones that existed only in Turkish in the language at that time.

One of the greatest European influences felt in the country then was the French. Many French words infiltrated the Bulgarian language, such as ‘madame’ and ‘merci’. To incorporate French words while speaking was considered a sign of a modern and progressive mind.

Later on, a desire to purify the language made linguists work on weeding out the ‘intruder’ words. Some of the foreign words were cleared out of the language, while others managed to persevere through the years, merci being among them.

According to the Bulgarian linguistic specialist Vladko Murdarov, the contemporary use of the word merci has slight differences from the Bulgarian word blagodarya. Merci is usually used when you thank for a trivial favor or something not really significant, while blagodarya comes when you are extremely thankful or someone has done you a great favor. Additionally, merci is used in informal communication and using it in a formal situation may be considered rude.

Since you are here, we would like to share our vision for the future of travel - and the direction Culture Trip is moving in.

Culture Trip launched in 2011 with a simple yet passionate mission: to inspire people to go beyond their boundaries and experience what makes a place, its people and its culture special and meaningful — and this is still in our DNA today. We are proud that, for more than a decade, millions like you have trusted our award-winning recommendations by people who deeply understand what makes certain places and communities so special.

Increasingly we believe the world needs more meaningful, real-life connections between curious travellers keen to explore the world in a more responsible way. That is why we have intensively curated a collection of premium small-group trips as an invitation to meet and connect with new, like-minded people for once-in-a-lifetime experiences in three categories: Culture Trips, Rail Trips and Private Trips. Our Trips are suitable for both solo travelers, couples and friends who want to explore the world together.

Culture Trips are deeply immersive 5 to 16 days itineraries, that combine authentic local experiences, exciting activities and 4-5* accommodation to look forward to at the end of each day. Our Rail Trips are our most planet-friendly itineraries that invite you to take the scenic route, relax whilst getting under the skin of a destination. Our Private Trips are fully tailored itineraries, curated by our Travel Experts specifically for you, your friends or your family.

We know that many of you worry about the environmental impact of travel and are looking for ways of expanding horizons in ways that do minimal harm - and may even bring benefits. We are committed to go as far as possible in curating our trips with care for the planet. That is why all of our trips are flightless in destination, fully carbon offset - and we have ambitious plans to be net zero in the very near future.