The answer to the question about “Ahoy” says that,
“‘Hello,’ was previously unknown and may have been invented by the man who proposed it, Thomas Edison.”
Really? Am I reading that correctly?
Link to Staff Report: What’s the origin of “ahoy”? – CKDH
Back in grammar school I read that “hallooo” was one of the things considered as a greeting over the phone. The article didn’t mention Edison at all.
I was under the impression that “halloo” and variants were greetings (escpecially useful over distances) long before the telephone. I’m not near an OED now, but I’ll check it out when I can.
Heck, Peter Stone has Ben Franklin saying “view-halloo” in 1776 when he meets Jefferson’s wife.
Cal, you’re right. I researched this but, I too, am not near an OED at the moment. Hello traces back to Halloo which goes back to something in the 1600s, IIRC. “Hallo” was being used in the 1800s significantly before the invention of the telephone. What I did note, however, is that “hello” spelled in that manner does not appear in any OED cites until after the invention of the telephone.
It clear that “hello” is etymologically derived from “hallo” and its predecessors.
“Hallo” and its variants were mainly used to call for someone’s attention, as in “Hallo! Who goes there?”
Oxford English Dictionary online edition shows no published instances to “hello” until 1883, but has a quote from Dickens’ 1840 novel Barnaby Rudge – “Halloa there, Hugh”
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=131227
For you latecomers
slightly more about “hello”
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=131761&highlight=hallo