There seems to be an archaic (?) grammar pattern that goes “i-adjective stem + らしゅうございます”. If I would guess, it’s simply a very polite (謙譲語) form of saying “～しいです。”. Am I wrong, does it have a deeper meaning?
I only found [this article](https://cityworks.jp/?p=8362) about the specific phrase “嬉しゅうございます” that says it’s an old polite form that shouldn’t really be used today.
(The exact phrase in the title is from the game The Great Ace Attorney 2, spoken by the character Susato who always uses 謙譲語.)
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Yes, it’s just an old and formal way to say 誇らしいです.
いい ＞ ゆう （かわゆうございます）
うい ＞ うう （寒うございます）
あい ＞ おう （早うございます）
おい ＞ おう （すごうございます）
> There seems to be an archaic (?) grammar pattern that goes “i-adjective stem + らしゅうございます”. If I would guess, it’s simply a very polite (謙譲語) form of saying “～しいです。”. Am I wrong, does it have a deeper meaning?
Slightly deeper; it’s actually “誇らしくあります” though it comes down to the same thing. “誇らしゅう” is an older form of “誇らしく”. As in, it’s the adverbial form followed by an older, more polite version of “あります”.
This is obviously the same form as the still very common “おはようございます” where “おはよう” is this form of “早く” thus simply meaning “It’s early.”, with the “お” added for even more politeness.
That’s perfectly standard ございます formality with an i-adj. The お prefix is often used, but it’s an honorific so it doesn’t make sense when someone talks about their own feelings.
The only thing weird about 嬉しゅうございます (I am delighted) is that it’s ございます formality, and if a situation is formal enough for people to use that form, they usually don’t express their personal feelings so directly.
Also, the vowel change at the end of i-adjectives is common in Kansai dialects. People say 嬉しゅう instead of 嬉しく、よう instead of よく、早う instead of 早く and so on, even without ござる。
it’s the full form of 丁寧語 i-adjectives (*which actually used to be different back then), back before they just added です to it at the end because it was considered ungrammatical. it’s still used today from time to time in official letters/work stuff.
*: the weird pronunciation change TheCheeseOfYesterday wrote above is actually due to a sound morphing over time. I don’t quite remember the specifics, but it probably went something like: normal i-adjective -> くござる, which then slowly morphed into うござる, and then into the modern ございます
It’s a very archaic way of saying “I’m proud of,” and the characters in today’s cartoons and games who use it are characterizations that show they are old-fashioned.
A person from the Heian period or the wife of a samurai family might say.
Most adjectives can be applied and changed.