I know どういたしまして is used as “you’re welcome”, but I’m wondering, what would be its literal translation?
As よろしくお願いいたします has the same meaning as よろしくお願いします, I assume いたしまして has the same meaning as して(ください)。
And about どう、as in どうする、どう言えばいい、etc, like, “what?”, “in which way?”, my understanding would be that どういたしまして would be something like, “please do the thing you like, please do things the way you want”. どう、して、whatever, do it.
Maybe a shortening of どういたしまして(も)いい, どうしてもいい、 as in 何してもいい, Whatever you do is good?
And so, probably, by extension, “as long as you’re happy that’s what matters”, = you’re welcome.
(Even if I am the one that did something for you, if we hear that I am “at your service”, I was just the agent that allowed you to do what you please.)
Is that a correct understanding? Is it different?
I haven’t talked Japanese these past months and I’m half asleep, so maybe my wordings are a total mess sorry 🙂
Glad to hear your thoughts if you have some! Thank you