From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Hiya" redirects here. For other uses, see Hiya (disambiguation).
"Hello!" redirects here. For the British magazine, see Hello! (magazine).
For other uses, see Hello (disambiguation).
The greeting "Hello" became associated with telephones in the late 19th century. Postcard circa 1905–
1915
Hello is a salutation or greeting in the English language. It is first attested in writing from 1826.[1]
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]
Telephone
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.[11] Alexander Graham Bell initially
used Ahoy (as used on ships) as a telephone greeting.[12][13] 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.[11]
By 1889, central telephone exchange operators were known as 'hello-girls' because of the
association between the greeting and the telephone.[13][14]
A 1918 fiction novel uses the spelling "Halloa" in the context of telephone conversations.[15]
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 MerriamWebster dictionary describes as a "chiefly British variant of hello",[16] 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.[17] The word hullo is still in use, with the meaning hello.[18][19][20][21]
Hello is alternatively thought to come from the word hallo (1840)
via hollo (also holla, holloa, halloo, halloa).[22] The definition of hollo is to shout or an exclamation
originally shouted in a hunt when the quarry was spotted:[23][24]
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.[25] 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!