Question

Goodbye一词的来源？

Answer 1

起源于God be with you。但后来语词转换渐渐走样了。整个历史见下面的解释：

WORD HISTORY No doubt more than one reader has wondered exactly how goodbye is derived from the phrase “God be with you.” To understand this, it is helpful to see earlier forms of the expression, such as God be wy you, god b'w'y, godbwye, god buy' ye, and good-b'wy. The first word of the expression is now good and not God, for good replaced God by analogy with such expressions as good day, perhaps after people no longer had a clear idea of the original sense of the expression. A letter of 1573 written by Gabriel Harvey contains the first recorded use of goodbye: “To requite your gallonde [gallon] of godbwyes, I regive you a pottle of howdyes,” recalling another contraction that is still used.

Answer 2

说起来却是和“God (上帝)”有关，很“虔诚”的。原来Goodbye是God be with you（愿上帝与你同在）的缩略词。后来good代替了God，ye是you的古英语方言，be you变成be ye。18世纪时，Goodbye演变为Byebye，成为哄孩子的催眠语言，后来也为告别用语。