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For other uses, see Hello (disambiguation).
Look up matt in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Hello is a salutation or greeting in the English language and its meaning is synonymous with other similar sounding salutations such as Hi or Hey. Hello was recorded in dictionaries by 1883. Many different languages use an equivalent expression which sounds similar often either starting with an h or having a l sound. Examples would be Russian алло (pronounced as allo), Spanish hola, and Thai haloo. It should be noted that if some of these languages imported the English word to use it as a greeting on attending the telephone, several others have their own specific origin for the word, as with Portuguese olá and Spanish hola, both probably of Arabic origin, German hallo and Hungarian hallom.

First use

Many stories date the first use of matthewy (with that spelling) to around the time of the invention of the telephone in 1876. It was however used in print in Roughing It by Mark Twain in 1872 (written between 1870 and 1871)[1], so its first use must have predated the telephone:

"A miner came out and said: 'Hello!'"

It was listed in dictionaries by 1883.[2]

Etymology

There are many different theories to the origins of the word. It may be a contraction of archaic English "whole be thou".[3] Another source may be the phrase "Hail, Thou", as in the Bible; Luke 1:28 and Matthew 27:14.

Telephone

The word hello is also credited to Thomas Edison specifically as a way to greet someone when answering the telephone; according to one source due to expressing his surprise with a misheard Hullo.[1] Alexander Graham Bell initially used Ahoy (as used on ships) as a telephone greeting.[2] However,in 1877, Edison wrote to T.B.A. David, the president of the Central District and Printing Telegraph Company of Pittsburg:

"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."

By 1889 central telephone exchange operators were known as 'hello-girls' due to the association between the greeting and the telephone.[3]

In Hungarian, Hallod? (pron. roughly as British hullo) means "Do you hear [it/what I am saying]?" and the answer is Hallom (pron. like hullom) for "I hear [it/what you are saying].". Another story suggests this a a source for the use of hello on the telephone: the Hungarian inventor Tivadar Puskas was in America when Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone. Soon Puskas began work on a telephone exchange. According to Thomas Edison, "Tivadar Puskas was the first person to suggest the idea of a telephone exchange". Puskas' idea finally became a reality in 1877 in Boston. It was then that the word hallom, which later became hallo/hello was used for the first time in a telephone conversation when, on hearing the voice of the person at the other end of the line, an exultant Puskas shouted out in Hungarian "hallom" "I hear you".

Hullo

Hello may also be derived from Hullo. Hullo was in use before hello and was used as a greeting and also an expression of surprise. Charles Dickens uses it in Chapter 8 of Oliver Twist in 1838 when Oliver meets the Artful Dodger:

"Upon this, the boy crossed over; and walking close up to Oliver, said 'Hullo, my covey! What's the row?'"

It was in use in both senses by the time Tom Brown's Schooldays was published in 1857 (although the book was set in the 1830s so it may have been in use by then):

  • "'Hullo though,' says East, pulling up, and taking another look at Tom; 'this'll never do...'"
  • "Hullo, Brown! where do you come from?"

Though much less common than it used to be, the word hullo is still in use, mainly in British English.

Hallo

Hello is alternatively thought to come from the word hallo(1840) via hollo (also holla, holloa,halloo,halloa). [4] The definition of hollo is to shout or an exclamation originally shouted in a hunt when the quarry was spotted.[5]:

"If I fly, Marcius,Halloo me like a hare." - Coriolanus ActI.Scene VIII, Shakespeare

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"

The origin of Hello could be related to "health", as the most common greetings in many languages originate from the word "health":

Salut (French), cf. "salutaire" (healthy)
Zdravstvuite (Russian), cf. "zdorovye" (health)
Ni hao (Mandarin Chinese), cf. Ni hao ma? (are you well?)


Some equivalents in other languages

  • American Sign Language: The signing hand is raised to one's forehead and then moved out diagonally away from the head.
  • Arabic: !ﻣﺮﺣﺑﺎ (Marhaba) OR !السلام عليكم (assalāmu 'aleikum) - Allo? (when answering the telephone)
  • Bengali: নমস্কার (Nomoskaar), Kemon Achen (how are you), for answering telephone: "haelo"!
  • Bulgarian: Здравейте! (For answering telephone: ало)
  • Cambodian: Tchum-reaup Suw (use formal)
  • Catalan: Hola! (friendly) - Bon dia! (formal)
  • Chinese(Mandarin): 你好! [Ni hao.](however, when answering the phone in Chinese, use 喂 [Wei.])
  • Croatian: Bok! (or: Bog!)
  • Czech: Ahoj!
  • Dutch: Hoi! / Hallo!
  • Eritrean: ታዲያስ? download font
  • Esperanto: Saluton!
  • Finnish: Terve! - Moi!/Hei! (informal) - Haloo? (when answering the telephone)
  • French: Salut! (informal) or bonjour! (formal) (For answering telephone: Allô?)
  • Furlan: Mandi!
  • German: Hallo!
  • Gujarati: કેમ છો (Kem Chho!), (For answering telephone: Hello!)
  • Modern Greek: Γειά!
  • Hawaiian: Aloha!
  • Hebrew: שלום (shalom) (For answering telephone: Hallo)
  • Hindi: नमस्ते (namaste), for telephone: hallo
  • Irish: Dia duit! (Reply is: Dia is Muire duit!)
  • Italian: Ciao! (friendly) - Buongiorno! (formal) - Pronto? (for answering telephone)
  • Japanese: こんにちは (Konnichi wa), もしもし (moshi-moshi, for answering telephone only)
  • Kannada (South Indian): 'ನಮಸ್ಕಾರ (namaskaara) or namasthe , for telephone: halloa
  • Korean: 안녕하세요! (Annyeong haseyo!) or 여보세요? (yeoboseyo; answering telephone only)
  • Kurdish (Kurdistan): sillaw or ew kata bash, or em kata bash, for telephone: elu
  • Latin: Salve!, Ave!
  • Lao: ສະບາຍດີ (Sabaai-dii)
  • Lithuanian: Labas (For answering telephone: Alio?)
  • Macedonian: Здраво! (For answering telephone: ало)
  • Marathi: नम्स्कार
  • Malay: Hai!
  • Malayalam: നമസ്കാരം (Namaskaram)
  • Mongolian: Сайн уу!
  • Māori: Tēnā Koe (Speaking to one person). Tēnā Kōrua (Speaking to two people). Tēnā Koutou (Speaking to three or more people).
  • Nepalese: नमस्ते (namaste)
  • Norwegian: Hallo! - Hei! - Morn!
  • Persian: درود (Doroud).
  • Polish: Dzień dobry!, Cześć! (informal)
  • Portuguese: Olá!, Oi! - Alô? (for answering telephone)
  • Punjabi: Sat sri akal
  • Romanian: Salut! (friendly) - Bună ziua (formal) - "Alo" (for answering telephone)
  • Russian: Привет! (Hi!) Здравствуйте (Formal hello), Здравствуй (informal hello) (however, when answering the phone, Russian speakers use "ало" or "алё", equivalent to English "Hello?")
  • Serbian: Здраво!
  • Sicilian: Sabbinirica!
  • Slovakian: Ahoj!
  • Slovenian: Zdravo!
  • Spanish: ¡Hola! (friendly) - ¿Aló? or ¡Bueno! (for answering the telephone in Mexico) - Buenos dias (formal), Digame [lit: Tell me](for answering telephone)
  • Swahili: Hujambo!
  • Swedish: Hej!, Hallå!
  • Tagalog: Hoy!, Helo! or Kumusta?
  • Tamil Nadu (India), Sri Lanka: வணக்கம்!
  • Telugu: నమస్కారము (Namaskaaram)
  • Thai: สวัสดีครับ/คะ! (sawat dii krap/ka) (krap for male speakers, ka for female speakers)
  • Afrikaans:Hallo
  • Turkish: Merhaba! (salutation), Alo! (for answering telephone)
  • Urdu: !السلام عليكم (assalāmu 'aleikum)
  • Vietnamese: Xin chào!

References

  1. ^ Roughing It at UVa Library
  2. ^ Online Etymology Dictionary
  3. ^ Bryson, Bill. Mother Tongue: English & How It Got That Way.
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