Thank you for X: ～をありがとうございます


I've often heard this pattern, particularly in things like

> メッセージ／メール **を** ありがとうございます。

Since `ありがとうございます` is an adjective, why is it acceptable to use `を` in this
situation? That seems about as grammatically correct as saying something like
`雪を寒いです`.

Is there some kind of underlying grammatical-correctness to this, or is this
just something that was misused and then became acceptable over time?




I think your example is simply omitting a word (a proper verb after を, that
is).

> メッセージ／メール を （くれて） ありがとうございます。

Which would mean this is basically like saying:

> メッセージ／メール を くれて うれしいです。

...ありがとうございます being essentially equivalent to ありがとうです. Of course, normally you
don't say メッセージ／メール を うれしいです。, omitting the verb, but I think ありがとう is just so
common that it might have become an exception.




ありがとう is the shortened form of

> ありがたくございます

or

> ありがたく存じます

ありがとうございます actually consists of two words ありがとう and ございます. Perhaps you think
it's an adjective because ありがたい is an adjective. However, ありがとう comes from
ありがたく. It might be easier to understand in this form: ~を(ありがとう)存じます. As you
can see the を is there because of the verb 存じます.

