Does です come from abbreviating でございます?

3 comments

1. Yes and no

   It is a shortening of であります

   でございます is a more polite version of であります

2. There actually are multiple theories, it’s not known what the actual origin is. Some candidates are であります、でございます、でおはす、and で候. (Source for these: Daijisen)

   People like to think of it as a short form of であります because it fills a similar role, but that’s only true in modern Japanese. In the past it had a similar role as でございます too, and before the Meiji era it was only used with very specific people (e.g. prostitutes for some time). It’s not really known when or how it appeared first.

3. I’m genuinely curious and I don’t mean to be rude when I ask this, but why did you make a post about this when Googling your title word for word gives you [an answer from Japanese stackexchange](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/11074/where-does-%E3%81%A7%E3%81%99-come-from) as the first result?