What is the origin of the word "Hello"?

Answer 1

hello
1883, alt. of hallo (1840), itself an alt. of holla, hollo, a shout to attract attention, first recorded 1588. Perhaps from holla! "stop, cease." Popularity as a greeting coincides with use of the telephone, where it won out over Alexander Graham Bell's suggestion, ahoy. Central telephone exchange operators were known as hello-girls (1889).
"Hello, formerly an Americanism, is now nearly as common as hullo in Britain (Say who you are; do not just say 'hello' is the warning given in our telephone directories) and the Englishman cannot be expected to give up the right to say hello if he likes it better than his native hullo. [H.W. Fowler, "A Dictionary of Modern English Usage," 1926]

Answer 2

I'm not British, but I should think it's the context that defines how the word is used. Just as "***" is a specific term for an animal, as well as a rather rude term for the buttocks, "bloody" can mean blood-soaked, or it can be used as an oath. According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, it has been "a British intens. swear word since at least 1676." That source goes on to report "that it was "respectable" before c.1750, and it was used by Fielding and Swift, but heavily tabooed c.1750-c.1920, perhaps from imagined association with menstruation; Johnson calls it "very vulgar..." Eric Partridge, in Words, Words, Words (Methuen, 1933), suggests six possible origins, prompting the idea that blood is simply vivid or distressing as the most probable. He also downplays the suggestion that it originates from "by our Lady" (an invocation of the Virgin Mary) as being phonetically unlikely (to whit I agree). I've also heard it said that it comes from an old oath, "God's blood," (i.e., the blood that was shed by Jesus when He died upon the cross). The Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology says this is "probably" the origin, but the OED says "there is no ground for the notion". In short, we may never know for certain of the origin.

Answer 3

Hello

This greeting is much newer than most people think. The first recorded use is from 1883.

It does, however, have earlier origins in other senses. It is a variant of hallo, which dates to 1840 and is a cry of surprise. That in turn is related to halloo, a cry to urge on hunting dogs. Halloo dates to about 1700, but a variant, aloo, appears in Shakeepeare's King Lear a century earlier than that.

And there is an even earlier variant, hollo, which dates to at least 1588 when Shakespeare used it in Titus Andronicus. There are also cognates in other Germanic languages.

Hello was not a shoo-in for the telephone greeting either. It competed with several other options, including Alexander Graham Bell's suggestion of Ahoy, but pulled into an early lead and by the end of the 1880s was firmly ensconced.

Answer 4

Well, this is it.............

It probably originated with to the advent of telephones in 1876. It was however used in print in Roughing It by Mark Twain in 1872 (written between 1870 and 1871),so its first use must have predated the telephone:
"A miner came out and said: 'Hello!'"

Earlier uses can be found back to 1849. It was listed in dictionaries by 1883.

Two early uses of hello can be found as far back as 1826.
Report on the trade in foreign corn, and on the agriculture of the north of Europe. by William Jacob, 1826. page 213
"On this occasion she switched it on to a patient who was awake and merely said 'Hello Sister, what's the matter with you...'"
The Every-day Book: Or Everlasting Calendar of Popular Amusements, Sports, Pastime, Ceremonies,...By William Hone, 1826 Page 1370
"Then hello boys! hello boys! shout and huzz...."

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

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?'"

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

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

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

Phew!!! quite some work searching!!!

Answer 5

The origin of "hello" is from the Old English "hal beo thou", literally "whole be thou". It is an abbreviation like goodbye, "God be with you".

Answer 6

Circa 19th century from the French "holá", "stop there!", to draw attention.

Answer 7

Derived from some archaic language more than likely.

Answer 8

look like u already have the ans

Answer 9

c

Answer 10

O HELL !!!