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Hello

April 28, 2024

For other uses, see Hello (disambiguation).

Hello is a salutation or greeting in the English language. It is first attested in writing from 1826.[1]

The greeting "Hello" became associated with telephones in the late 19th century. Postcard circa 1905–1915

Early uses

Hello, with that spelling, was used in publications in the U.S. as early as the 18 October 1826 edition of the Norwich Courier of Norwich, Connecticut.[1] Another early use was an 1833 American book called The Sketches and Eccentricities of Col. David Crockett, of West Tennessee,[2] which was reprinted that same year in The London Literary Gazette.[3] The word was extensively used in literature by the 1860s.[4]

Etymology

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, hello is an alteration of hallo, hollo,[1] which came from Old High German "halâ, holâ, emphatic imperative of halôn, holôn to fetch, used especially in hailing a ferryman".[5] It also connects the development of hello to the influence of an earlier form, holla, whose origin is in the French holà (roughly, 'whoa there!', from French là 'there').[6] As in addition to hello, halloo,[7] hallo, hollo, hullo and (rarely) hillo also exist as variants or related words, the word can be spelt using any of all five vowels.[8][9][10]

Bill Bryson asserts in his book Mother Tongue that "hello" is a contraction of the Old English phrase hál béo þu ("Hale be thou", or "whole be thou", meaning a wish for good health; cf. "goodbye" which is a contraction of "God be with ye").[11]

Telephone

Before the telephone, greetings often included a name and a time of day, such as "Good morning, Doctor", but on the telephone, it isn't immediately known who is speaking or whether they share the same time zone. So greetings without time began to catch on.[12]

The use of hello as a telephone greeting has been credited to Thomas Edison; according to one source, he expressed his surprise with a misheard Hullo.[13] Alexander Graham Bell initially used Ahoy (as used on ships) as a telephone greeting.[14][15] However, in 1877, Edison wrote to T. B. A. David, president of the Central District and Printing Telegraph Company of Pittsburgh:

Friend David, I do not think we shall need a call bell as Hello! can be heard 10 to 20 feet away. What you think? Edison – P.S. first cost of sender & receiver to manufacture is only $7.00.[13]

By 1889, central telephone exchange operators were known as "hello-girls" because of the association between the greeting and the telephone.[15][16]

A 1918 fiction novel uses the spelling "Halloa" in the context of telephone conversations.[17]

Hullo, hallo, and other spellings

"Hallo" redirects here. For other uses, see Hallo (disambiguation).

Hello might be derived from an older spelling variant, hullo, which the American Merriam-Webster dictionary describes as a "chiefly British variant of hello",[18] and which was originally used as an exclamation to call attention, an expression of surprise, or a greeting. Hullo is found in publications as early as 1803.[19] The word hullo is still in use, with the meaning hello.[20][21][22][23]

Hello is alternatively thought to come from the word hallo (1840) via hollo (also holla, holloa, halloo, halloa).[24] The definition of hollo is to shout or an exclamation originally shouted in a hunt when the quarry was spotted:[25][26]

If I fly, Marcius,/Halloo me like a hare.

— Coriolanus (I.viii.7), William Shakespeare

Fowler's has it that "hallo" is first recorded "as a shout to call attention" in 1864.[27] It is used by Samuel Taylor Coleridge's famous poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner written in 1798:

And the good south wind still blew behind,
But no sweet bird did follow,
Nor any day for food or play

Came to the mariners' hollo!

In many Germanic languages, including German, Danish, Norwegian, Dutch and Afrikaans, "hallo" literally translates into English as "hello". In the case of Dutch, it was used as early as 1797 in a letter from Willem Bilderdijk to his sister-in-law as a remark of astonishment.[28]

Webster's dictionary from 1913 traces the etymology of holloa to the Old English halow and suggests: "Perhaps from ah + lo; compare Anglo Saxon ealā".

According to the American Heritage Dictionary, hallo is a modification of the obsolete holla (stop!), perhaps from Old French hola (ho, ho! + la, there, from Latin illac, that way).[29]

"Hello, World" computer program

Main article: "Hello, World!" program

Students learning a new computer programming language will often begin by writing a "Hello, World!" program, which does nothing but issue the message "Hello, World!" to the user (such as by displaying it on a screen). It has been used since the earliest programs, and in many computer languages. This tradition was further popularised after being printed in an introductory chapter of the book The C Programming Language by Kernighan & Ritchie.[30] The book had reused an example taken from a 1974 memo by Brian Kernighan at Bell Laboratories.[31]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c "hello". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
  2. ^ (Anonymous). The Sketches and Eccentricities of Col. David Crockett, of West Tennessee. New York: J. & J. Harper, 1833. p. 144.
  3. ^ "The Sketches and Eccentricities of Col. David Crockett, of West Tennessee". The London Literary Gazette; and Journal of Belles Lettres, Arts, Sciences, &c. No. 883: 21 December 1833. p. 803.
  4. ^ [1] Origin of the word.
  5. ^ "hallo". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
  6. ^ "holla". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
  7. ^ Butler, Mann, A History of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, Wilcox, Dickerman & Co., 1834, p. 106.
  8. ^ "Definition of HOLLO". www.merriam-webster.com.
  9. ^ "Definition of HULLO". www.merriam-webster.com.
  10. ^ "Definition of HILLO". www.merriam-webster.com.
  11. ^ Bryson, Bill (2000). "Where Words Come From". Mother Tongue. Book Club Associates. p. 76. OCLC 1120388087. OL 16017998M.
  12. ^ McCulloch, Gretchen (23 July 2019). Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language. Riverhead. pp. 201–202. ISBN 978-0735210936.
  13. ^ a b Allen Koenigsberg. . Antique Phonograph Magazine. Vol. VIII, no. 6. Archived from the original on 16 November 2006.
  14. ^ Allen Koenigsberg (1999). . National Public Radio. Archived from the original on 9 March 2009. Retrieved 13 September 2006.
  15. ^ a b "Online Etymology Dictionary". etymonline.com. Retrieved 28 September 2010.
  16. ^ Grimes, William (5 March 1992). "Great 'Hello' Mystery Is Solved". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 25 October 2017.
  17. ^ Dehan, Richard (1918). That which Hath Wings: A Novel of the Day. G. P. Putnam. ISBN 978-1-5332-9337-4.
  18. ^ "hullo – Definition from the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary". Merriam-webster.com. 25 April 2007. Retrieved 26 September 2009.
  19. ^ The Sporting Magazine. London (1803). Volume 23, p. 12.
  20. ^ "Hullo From Orkney". Forum.downsizer.net. Retrieved 26 September 2009.
  21. ^ Piers Beckley (23 April 2008). "Writersroom Blog: Hullo again. Did you miss me?". BBC. Retrieved 26 September 2009.
  22. ^ "Ashes: England v Australia – day one as it happened | Andy Bull and Rob Smyth". The Guardian. London. 16 July 2009. Retrieved 26 September 2009.
  23. ^ "Semi-final clash excites fans". BBC Sport. 14 April 2005. Retrieved 26 September 2009.
  24. ^ "Hello". Merriam-Webster Online. Retrieved 7 February 2016.
  25. ^ "Hollo". Merriam-Webster Online. Retrieved 7 February 2016.
  26. ^ Baily's Magazine of Sports and Pastimes. Vinton. 1907. p. 127.
  27. ^ The New Fowler's, revised third edition by R. W. Burchfield, Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-860263-4, p. 356.
  28. ^ Bilderdijk, Willem Liefde en ballingschap. Brieven 1795–1797 (ed. Marita Mathijsen). Uitgeverij De Arbeiderspers, Amsterdam/Antwerp 1997
  29. ^ "Hello". The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. Retrieved 1 September 2006.
  30. ^ Kernighan, Brian W.; Ritchie, Dennis M. (1978). The C Programming Language (1st ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. ISBN 0-13-110163-3.
  31. ^ Kernighan, Brian (1974). "Programming in C: A Tutorial" (PDF). Bell Labs. Retrieved 9 January 2019.

External links

 
Look up hello, hi, hey, or hiya in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

April 28, 2024
hello, other, uses, disambiguation, salutation, greeting, english, language, first, attested, writing, from, 1826, greeting, became, associated, with, telephones, late, 19th, century, postcard, circa, 1905, 1915, contents, early, uses, etymology, telephone, hu. For other uses see Hello disambiguation Hello is a salutation or greeting in the English language It is first attested in writing from 1826 1 The greeting Hello became associated with telephones in the late 19th century Postcard circa 1905 1915 Contents 1 Early uses 2 Etymology 2 1 Telephone 2 2 Hullo hallo and other spellings 3 Hello World computer program 4 See also 5 References 6 External linksEarly usesHello with that spelling was used in publications in the U S as early as the 18 October 1826 edition of the Norwich Courier of Norwich Connecticut 1 Another early use was an 1833 American book called The Sketches and Eccentricities of Col David Crockett of West Tennessee 2 which was reprinted that same year in The London Literary Gazette 3 The word was extensively used in literature by the 1860s 4 EtymologyAccording to the Oxford English Dictionary hello is an alteration of hallo hollo 1 which came from Old High German hala hola emphatic imperative of halon holon to fetch used especially in hailing a ferryman 5 It also connects the development of hello to the influence of an earlier form holla whose origin is in the French hola roughly whoa there from French la there 6 As in addition to hello halloo 7 hallo hollo hullo and rarely hillo also exist as variants or related words the word can be spelt using any of all five vowels 8 9 10 Bill Bryson asserts in his book Mother Tongue that hello is a contraction of the Old English phrase hal beo thu Hale be thou or whole be thou meaning a wish for good health cf goodbye which is a contraction of God be with ye 11 Telephone Before the telephone greetings often included a name and a time of day such as Good morning Doctor but on the telephone it isn t immediately known who is speaking or whether they share the same time zone So greetings without time began to catch on 12 The use of hello as a telephone greeting has been credited to Thomas Edison according to one source he expressed his surprise with a misheard Hullo 13 Alexander Graham Bell initially used Ahoy as used on ships as a telephone greeting 14 15 However in 1877 Edison wrote to T B A David president of the Central District and Printing Telegraph Company of Pittsburgh Friend David I do not think we shall need a call bell as Hello can be heard 10 to 20 feet away What you think Edison P S first cost of sender amp receiver to manufacture is only 7 00 13 By 1889 central telephone exchange operators were known as hello girls because of the association between the greeting and the telephone 15 16 A 1918 fiction novel uses the spelling Halloa in the context of telephone conversations 17 Hullo hallo and other spellings Hallo redirects here For other uses see Hallo disambiguation Hello might be derived from an older spelling variant hullo which the American Merriam Webster dictionary describes as a chiefly British variant of hello 18 and which was originally used as an exclamation to call attention an expression of surprise or a greeting Hullo is found in publications as early as 1803 19 The word hullo is still in use with the meaning hello 20 21 22 23 Hello is alternatively thought to come from the word hallo 1840 via hollo also holla holloa halloo halloa 24 The definition of hollo is to shout or an exclamation originally shouted in a hunt when the quarry was spotted 25 26 If I fly Marcius Halloo me like a hare Coriolanus I viii 7 William Shakespeare Fowler s has it that hallo is first recorded as a shout to call attention in 1864 27 It is used by Samuel Taylor Coleridge s famous poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner written in 1798 And the good south wind still blew behind But no sweet bird did follow Nor any day for food or playCame to the mariners hollo In many Germanic languages including German Danish Norwegian Dutch and Afrikaans hallo literally translates into English as hello In the case of Dutch it was used as early as 1797 in a letter from Willem Bilderdijk to his sister in law as a remark of astonishment 28 Webster s dictionary from 1913 traces the etymology of holloa to the Old English halow and suggests Perhaps from ah lo compare Anglo Saxon eala According to the American Heritage Dictionary hallo is a modification of the obsolete holla stop perhaps from Old French hola ho ho la there from Latin illac that way 29 Hello World computer programMain article Hello World program Students learning a new computer programming language will often begin by writing a Hello World program which does nothing but issue the message Hello World to the user such as by displaying it on a screen It has been used since the earliest programs and in many computer languages This tradition was further popularised after being printed in an introductory chapter of the book The C Programming Language by Kernighan amp Ritchie 30 The book had reused an example taken from a 1974 memo by Brian Kernighan at Bell Laboratories 31 See alsoAloha As salamu alaykum Ciao Kia ora Namaste Shalom World Hello DayReferences a b c hello Oxford English Dictionary Online ed Oxford University Press Subscription or participating institution membership required Anonymous The Sketches and Eccentricities of Col David Crockett of West Tennessee New York J amp J Harper 1833 p 144 The Sketches and Eccentricities of Col David Crockett of West Tennessee The London Literary Gazette and Journal of Belles Lettres Arts Sciences amp c No 883 21 December 1833 p 803 1 Origin of the word hallo Oxford English Dictionary Online ed Oxford University Press Subscription or participating institution membership required holla Oxford English Dictionary Online ed Oxford University Press Subscription or participating institution membership required Butler Mann A History of the Commonwealth of Kentucky Wilcox Dickerman amp Co 1834 p 106 Definition of HOLLO www merriam webster com Definition of HULLO www merriam webster com Definition of HILLO www merriam webster com Bryson Bill 2000 Where Words Come From Mother Tongue Book Club Associates p 76 OCLC 1120388087 OL 16017998M McCulloch Gretchen 23 July 2019 Because Internet Understanding the New Rules of Language Riverhead pp 201 202 ISBN 978 0735210936 a b Allen Koenigsberg The First Hello Thomas Edison the Phonograph and the Telephone Part 2 Antique Phonograph Magazine Vol VIII no 6 Archived from the original on 16 November 2006 Allen Koenigsberg 1999 All Things Considered National Public Radio Archived from the original on 9 March 2009 Retrieved 13 September 2006 a b Online Etymology Dictionary etymonline com Retrieved 28 September 2010 Grimes William 5 March 1992 Great Hello Mystery Is Solved The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved 25 October 2017 Dehan Richard 1918 That which Hath Wings A Novel of the Day G P Putnam ISBN 978 1 5332 9337 4 hullo Definition from the Merriam Webster Online Dictionary Merriam webster com 25 April 2007 Retrieved 26 September 2009 The Sporting Magazine London 1803 Volume 23 p 12 Hullo From Orkney Forum downsizer net Retrieved 26 September 2009 Piers Beckley 23 April 2008 Writersroom Blog Hullo again Did you miss me BBC Retrieved 26 September 2009 Ashes England v Australia day one as it happened Andy Bull and Rob Smyth The Guardian London 16 July 2009 Retrieved 26 September 2009 Semi final clash excites fans BBC Sport 14 April 2005 Retrieved 26 September 2009 Hello Merriam Webster Online Retrieved 7 February 2016 Hollo Merriam Webster Online Retrieved 7 February 2016 Baily s Magazine of Sports and Pastimes Vinton 1907 p 127 The New Fowler s revised third edition by R W Burchfield Oxford University Press ISBN 0 19 860263 4 p 356 Bilderdijk Willem Liefde en ballingschap Brieven 1795 1797 ed Marita Mathijsen Uitgeverij De Arbeiderspers Amsterdam Antwerp 1997 Hello The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language Fourth Edition 2000 Retrieved 1 September 2006 Kernighan Brian W Ritchie Dennis M 1978 The C Programming Language 1st ed Englewood Cliffs NJ Prentice Hall ISBN 0 13 110163 3 Kernighan Brian 1974 Programming in C A Tutorial PDF Bell Labs Retrieved 9 January 2019 External links nbsp Look up hello hi hey or hiya in Wiktionary the free dictionary Hello in more than 800 languages OED online entry for hollo Subscription Merriam Webster Dictionary hollo hullo Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Hello amp oldid 1216288389, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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