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Originally, arigatou came from the i-adjective arigata-i.

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In kanji, arigata-i is written as 有+難い. 

 

有 means "to be" "existence".

難 means "difficult" "hard." 

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So, original meaning of arigata-i is literally translated into "it is difficult to be/exist." This idea can be interpreted as "it is rare for me to encounter such a thing/person." 

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For example, one of my English-speaking friends always listens to what I said patiently. She also repeated what she said several times until I understand. I think she is  a very rare person because she is thoughtful and tolerant of my poor English. For me, it is rare to be able to meet such a person, so I always feel arigata-i toward this person. This feeling is connected to the greeting, arigatou.

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Japanese language seems to tend to consider each benefit from nature, people, environment around them, etc. as rare, precious, not as natural/easy to get.

 

I think this idea is connected to the frequent use of giving and receiving expressions "kureru" "morau" in Japanese. Japanese expressions are really conscious of the source of a benefit. Regarding this topic, I will think more deeply next time.