Quote:
Originally Posted by KyleGoetz
On a tangential note, I don't know how many people actually think about this, but it's painfully obvious when it gets pointed out: はじめまして is the polite continuative (て) form of はじめる, which is the transitive verb "to begin [something]" (as opposed to the intransitive はじまる, which means "[something] begins").
Furthermore, こんにちは is an alternate pronunciation of 今日は, which could be translated literally as "Today/This day is...?"
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Right, はじめまして literally means "We begin" more or less. And こんにちは is part of a longer archaic sentence where the end has dropped off over the years. Which I did know in it's entirety, but damned if I can find it again now. SM knows probably.