ONE PRAYER IN ONE WORD
Bogdaproste / bodaproste: what it means and why it is said at pomana
Bogdaproste is the popular thanks said when receiving something as pomana — a memorial gift, meal or alms for the dead — from Bulgarian “bog da prosti”, “May God forgive (their sins)”. Pomana is the gift made, according to Christian belief, towards the forgiveness of sins and the salvation of the soul. DOOM3 moved the headword to bodaproste; the explanatory dictionaries and the old texts keep bogdaproste.
Three Slavic words became one Romanian word:
BOGDAPROSTE
PRIMIT · prayed · 1746→TODAY
- 3→1
- three Slavic words, one Romanian word
- 1746
- Mărgăritare: the attestation indicated by MDA2
- Bog da prosti
- “May God forgive their sins” — the whole formula
The word, briefly
- Basic sense
- “A word of thanks for the one who gives pomana” (MDA2).
- Etymon
- Bulg. бог да прости (MDA2).
- Literally
- “May God forgive (their sins)” (DEXI; Scriban).
- Current norm
- DOOM3: bodaproste — interjection (headword), neuter noun (rare).
- Attestation
- 1746, Mărgăritare — the oldest indicated by MDA2, via TDRG.
- Stress
- bodapróste — on -pros- (syll. -da-pros-, DOOM).
Bogdaproste or bodaproste?
Both are heard; only one heads the normative entry. The explanatory dictionaries enter bogdaproste (with bodaproste as a variant); DOOM3 — Romania’s official spelling, pronunciation and morphology dictionary — moved the entry to bodaproste.
DEX / MDA2
The entry is bogdaproste — “Cuvânt de mulțumire pentru cel care dă de pomană”, a word of thanks for the giver of pomana (MDA2); bodaproste appears as a variant. Indicated attestation: 1746, Mărgăritare, via TDRG.
DOOM2 (2005)
“bogdaproste/ bodaproste (pop.) (-da-pros-) interj.” — bogdaproste first, bodaproste an admitted variant.
DOOM3 (2021)
“!bodaproste¹ (pop.) (desp. -da-pros-) interj.” — bodaproste becomes the headword; “+bodaproste² (pop.) (rar) s. n.” is a new article, the noun. The ! mark means the entry changed since DOOM2; + means an added article (the DOOM3 legend).
DOOM3 does not erase bogdaproste from Romanian: DEX, MDA2, the old dictionaries and the historical texts document it. (pop.) means oral use, rarely written — the DOOM3 label for both forms.
One prayer in one word
The dictionaries say the same thing from three sides: bogdaproste is one word, it is said when receiving pomana — memorial alms for the dead — and it comes from Slavic Bog da prosti.
The whole formula, unsplit
Bogŭ da prostitĭ
“May the Lord forgive them (your dead)” — the DER gloss, after the dexonline transcription
The parts of the formula (BOG / DA / PROSTI) appear separately nowhere on this page: no cited Slavic grammar backs the split, so the formula stays whole.
MDA2: a single word
“bogdaproste [At: (a. 1746) MĂRGĂRITARE, ap. TDRG / E: bg бог да прости] (Pop) Cuvânt de mulțumire pentru cel care dă de pomană.”
“ap. TDRG” means the dictionary cites the attestation through TDRG; the card shows exactly what the dictionary shows.
CADE: the beggars’ formula
“BOGDAPROSTE! pop. BODAPROSTE! sau BODAPROSTI! … (rostit în spec. de cerșetori cînd li se dă ceva de pomană) … [vsl. bogŭ-da-prostitĭ]”
Four witnesses from books
ISP.
“bogdaproste! cucoane, și Dumnezeu să primească”
RET.
“zise crîșmăriței un bogdaproste”
NEGR.
“împărțind bogdaprostele”
CRG.
“ca un puiu de bogdaproste” — “copil de cerșetor, slab, prăpădit”
The quotations are the ones CADE collected; the full texts stay out.
Other spellings
- bodaproste
- bodaprosti
- bogdaprosta
- bogdaprostă
- bogdaprosti
The MDA2 paradigm: popular and regional forms. Of these, only bodaproste heads the DOOM3 entry; the rest remain dictionary and textual attestations, not normative recommendations.
“A zice un bogdaproste” (RET.) — the thanks used as a noun; MDA2 records the sense “Mulțumire (pentru o pomană)”.
“Pui de bogdaproste”: CADE glosses it “copil de cerșetor, slab, prăpădit” (a beggar’s child, thin, wasted); DER proposes a different reckoning, chickens given as gifts or dues to monasteries; DEXI leads with “a (scrawny) chicken given as pomana at a burial” — the page shows all three.
The Slavic layers, in order: MDA2 gives the Bulgarian etymon bog da prosti; CADE and DER cite the Slavonic form bogŭ-da-prostitĭ; Old Church Slavonic prostiti is an attested verb meaning “to forgive, to release”; and *prostiti ← *prostъ + *-iti is a reconstructed Proto-Slavic etymology (the asterisk marks a reconstruction, not an attestation) — Wiktionary.
The formula still lives in Bulgarian
The source phrase is no museum piece: the Bulgarian Academy dictionary records it in current use, at the remembrance of the dead.
Бог да прости някого
“Употребява се при споменаване на покойник и при раздаване (обикн. на храна) в негова памет” — used when mentioning a deceased person and when distributing (usually food) in their memory. RBE, s.v. прощавам; with examples from Elin Pelin and Mutafchieva.
за бог да прости
“Без да се заплати, даром” (colloquial, ironic) and “без полза, напразно” (dialectal) — without payment, gratis; without use, in vain. RBE, s.v. бог and прощавам. A semantic parallel to de pomană / de bogdaproste, not a proven filiation.
The two phrases prove no unbroken transmission; they show only that the source phrase still lives in the language of Bulgarian funerary ritual.
3→1 Slavic words → Romanian word
The receipt between worlds.
Rome and the Romanian pomana: comparison, not filiation
At Rome, food and the dead meet on several occasions: at the burial itself (silicernium), at the tomb, and at the yearly ancestral observances, Parentalia–Feralia. In today’s Romanian, pomana is the meal given after a burial or parastas. Both cultures set food for the dead — that does not prove the Romanian pomana descends from the Feralia.
Parentalia, 13–21 February
The days of the parents: between 13 and 21 February, Romans carried offerings to the tombs. The last day was called Feralia (Harpers; Piechocka-Kłoś).
Ovid’s offerings
A tile wreathed with garlands, meal, salt, bread soaked in wine, loose violets — set on a brick — and prayers. “Their shades ask little” (Ovid, Fasti II, Kline translation).
The meal eaten at the grave
Romans ate at the grave on burial day (silicernium, after Varro, in Harpers); at Pompeii a triclinium funebre was found, the dining couch for remembering the dead.
Feralia, 21 February
The last day: offerings borne to the dead, the last day to propitiate the shades (Ovid, Fasti II, Kline translation). Ovid explains the name through ferunt, “they bear” — an ancient etymology, not a proven one.
Today: pomana
DEX: “Dar, danie, ofrandă … la iertarea păcatelor, la mântuirea sufletului” and “Masă care se dă după înmormântare sau după parastas”. MDA2 adds the memorial service for the dead, the meal at which the dead’s belongings are given to the poor, and the colac given at burials and parastase.
The ledger: what the living give, what the dead receive
WHAT THE LIVING GIVE
- offerings at the tomb (Feralia)
- pomana: gift and meal (today)
WHAT THE DEAD RECEIVE
- remembrance and propitiation (Ovid)
- forgiveness of sins, salvation of the soul (DEX)
The two columns stand side by side as documented practices, not as links in a chain: comparison, not filiation.
The word travels
From the Slavic formula to today’s dictionary, the word lost two spaces and kept the whole prayer.
The formula
bog da prosti
the Bulgarian prayer (MDA2); bogŭ-da-prostitĭ in CADE/DER
1746
Mărgăritare
the oldest attestation indicated by MDA2, via TDRG
Today
bodaproste
the DOOM3 headword; bogdaproste stays in DEX/MDA2 and the texts
Three words became one: the dictionaries record the result, not the process. MDA2 writes the headword joined and puts the formula at the etymology.
Today: the word’s trace
What the dictionaries say about current use: CADE records it as the beggars’ formula, DER as their traditionally kept formula — old lexicographic notes, not frequency measurements. The dated modern traces: Maramureș, 2009 — “când căpătau ouă zîceau Bogdaproste”, when they got eggs they would say Bogdaproste (DRAM 2021, after Bilțiu); the ironic senses in the 2007 slang dictionary. DOOM3 keeps it at (pop.): oral use, rarely written.
The whole formula, inside a tale
In the tale, a man begs pomana at Sur-Vultur’s sister’s house and receives it; his answer is the whole formula:
— Bogdaproste, da pomană să fie cui a făcut-o, iar Sur-Vultur să trăiască unde-o fi.
The afterlife of the word
Pomana is the central sense, but the word did not stay there. The dictionaries record its trail: thanks, relief, irony.
POMANA
“A word of thanks for the one who gives pomana” — the basic sense (MDA2).
THE THANKS
As a noun: “the thanks (for a pomana)” (MDA2); “the thanks of the soul” (MDA2).
THE RELIEF
“Zi bogdaproste că ai scăpat!”, say bogdaproste you escaped — after a misfortune or a worry (DEX’09; Scriban; DLRLC).
DE BOGDAPROSTE
“Got for nothing” (NODEX); “de pomană” in the figurative sense (MDA2).
THE IRONY
“A umple de bogdaproste” — to scold harshly (Slang 2007); “pui de bogdaproste” — a poor child (Slang 2007).
THE VERB
A bogdaprosti — “to thank” (rare, MDA2).
The labels are the dictionaries’: popular, familiar, rare, ironic. The page does not iron them flat.
The receipt
Pick the scene — Rome or today’s pomana — then play the three beats. There is no bogdaproste at Rome: the comparison bites precisely because it shows the difference.
Pick an offering:
ROME · 21 FEB · Ovid, Fasti II · Beat 3 / 3
THE LIVING GIVE
Bread soaked in wine is laid on the tomb at the Feralia (Ovid).
THE DEAD ARE REMEMBERED
The shades receive the gifts and the prayers — with no bogdaproste: Rome never had the word.
THE RECEIPT
The lines print one by one; the PRIMIT stamp — Romanian for RECEIVED — closes the Roman scene.
GIVEN Bread soaked in wine
PRAYED prayers (Ovid)
PRIMIT
The ← → keys move the beats.
“The oldest receipt” is an editorial metaphor: proof of the transaction between the living and the dead, not a date.
Decode the receipt
Four rounds, two offerings, two eras. Every round teaches one row of the sources.
1 Bread soaked in wine was laid on the tomb at…
That is right. Ovid lists bread soaked in wine among the Feralia offerings. (C09 · Ovid, Fasti II)
2 The colac is given…
That is right. MDA2: colac given at burials and parastase. (C07 · MDA2)
3 At the Feralia, the tomb received…
That is right. Ovid’s list: garlands, meal, salt, bread in wine, violets, prayers. (C09 · Ovid, Fasti II)
4 As pomana, today, people give…
That is right. Pomana is the gift and meal for the forgiveness of sins; the colac is its bread offering. (C06–C07 · DEX, MDA2)
Score: 0 of 4
Three myths
“Bogdaproste” simply means “thank you”.
Not quite. In Romanian it works as a thanks — DEX calls it a “word of thanks”, DER glosses it “Mulțumesc, să fie primit” — but the formula it comes from means “May God forgive”. The function is thanks; the content, a forgiveness prayer for the dead.
It is the oldest Romanian thanks.
No. “The oldest receipt” is this page’s metaphor for the transaction proof; the oldest attestation indicated by MDA2 is 1746 — late, not old.
It is a rustic thanks, interchangeable with mulțumesc.
Not quite. The basic ritual use is specific: it answers pomana, not anything. But the dictionaries also document extensions — relief (“zi bogdaproste că ai scăpat”), irony (“a umple de bogdaproste”) — and a rare verb, a bogdaprosti. Specific at the root, wider in the afterlife.
Sources
Dictionaries first, then Rome, then the tale. Each row below is one page claim with its source.
| Row | Claim | Source | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| C01 | Bogdaproste is one word, the thanks for the one who gives pomana, from Bulg. бог да прости. | MDA2, on dexonline | DICTIONARY |
| C02 | The older BODAPROSTE / BODAPROSTI, said by beggars when given pomana; [vsl. bogŭ-da-prostitĭ]. | CADE (Candrea–Adamescu), on dexonline | DICTIONARY |
| C03 | Bogŭ da prostitĭ = “May the Lord forgive them (your dead)”; a beggars’ formula, only for pomana. | DER, on dexonline | DICTIONARY |
| C04 | The oldest attestation indicated by MDA2, via TDRG: 1746, Mărgăritare. | MDA2 (“ap. TDRG”), on dexonline | DICTIONARY |
| C05 | Old Church Slavonic prostiti = “to forgive, to release” (attested); *prostiti ← *prostъ + *-iti is a Proto-Slavic reconstruction. | Wiktionary | DICTIONARY |
| C06 | Pomana: a gift made “according to Christian belief” towards forgiveness of sins and salvation of the soul; the meal after burial or parastas. | DEX, on dexonline | DICTIONARY |
| C07 | The memorial service for the dead; the meal gifting the dead’s belongings to the poor; the burial colac. | MDA2, on dexonline | DICTIONARY |
| C08 | Parentalia 13–21 Feb, Feralia the last day; silicernium at the grave; triclinium funebre at Pompeii. | Harpers, Funus, on Perseus; Piechocka-Kłoś (UWM) | STUDY |
| C09 | The offerings: garlands, meal, salt, bread in wine, violets, prayers; Feralia ← ferunt is Ovid’s ancient etymology. | Ovid, Fasti II, Kline translation | PRIMARY |
| C11 | Thank ← *thankoz “thought; gratitude”, kin to think — cited as a poetic parallel, not a theory. | Etymology Online | EDITORIAL |
| C12 | The ISP. / RET. / NEGR. / CRG. witnesses, in CADE’s quotations. | CADE, on dexonline | PRIMARY |
| C13 | “Bogdaproste, da pomană să fie cui a făcut-o…” — answering a received pomana. | Stăncescu, “Sur-Vultur”, on Wikisource | PRIMARY |
| C14 | The engine: the Rome scene without bogdaproste (Ovid), today’s scene with the formula (MDA2); comparison, not filiation. | derived from C06–C09 | EDITORIAL |
| C15 | “The oldest receipt” is an editorial metaphor, not a date. | this page | EDITORIAL |
| C16 | DOOM3: “!bodaproste¹ (pop.) interj.” is the headword (a changed entry); “+bodaproste² (pop.) (rar) s. n.” is a new article. | DOOM3, on dexonline; the DOOM3 legend | NORMATIVE |
| C17 | “Бог да прости някого” at the remembrance of the dead and the sharing of food; “за бог да прости” = gratis / in vain. | RBE (Bulgarian Academy), s.v. прощавам, бог | DICTIONARY |
| C18 | Modern traces: “când căpătau ouă zîceau Bogdaproste” (Maramureș, 2009); “a umple de bogdaproste” = to scold harshly. | DRAM 2021; Slang 2007, on dexonline | DICTIONARY |
| C19 | Stress on -pros- (bodaprósti); “zi bodaprosti c-ai scăpat de el!” after escaping danger. | Scriban 1939, on dexonline | DICTIONARY |
The method, briefly
The dictionary quotations are verified on dexonline (including DOOM3 and its legend on doom.lingv.ro); today’s Bulgarian is verified in the Bulgarian Academy dictionary (RBE); Rome is verified in Harpers, one open-access study (Piechocka-Kłoś, UWM) and Ovid (Kline translation); the fragment is verified on Wikisource (Stăncescu, d. 1899, public domain). What the page leaves out, it leaves out for want of a cited source: the part-by-part gloss, the Slavic cognate pairings, and the bridge between pagan and Christian Rome.
Sibling pieces
- The tales, one by one — the full texts, at the basme sibling
- The carol that comes from calendae — another journey of a word
Type: Fraunces, Newsreader and Atkinson Hyperlegible, under the SIL Open Font Licence.