# etymology of hellooooooooo!!!!! **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 19, 2011, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-hellooooooooo/571903 "2011-02-19T11:45:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![yuzarsif](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/53a042/32.png) [@yuzarsif](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yuzarsif)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2011, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-hellooooooooo/571903/1 "2011-02-19T11:45:25Z")
well this is embarrassing 😕that when I am on phone or visit to my cousin the first thing that i used to say is hello … is that the word hello really have a hidden meaning besides … \>? is that its meaning ’ is any body there ’ ? why this word so much propagate in the world? to initiate even gossips . does any body really identify the meaning of hello not its origin as i already know it? ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2011, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-hellooooooooo/571903/2 "2011-02-19T16:15:06Z")
First of all, I think you are in the wrong forum. As to your question, I remember reading somewhere that when the telephone was invented and became popular, there was a big question of etiquette as to how one should answer it. If memory serves, the word “hello” was pretty much invented (or at least, deliberately borrowed) for just that purpose. Sorry no cite, just a vague memory from a long-ago, bookish youth. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2011, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-hellooooooooo/571903/3 "2011-02-19T16:59:36Z")
I’m moving this from the Chicago-related forum to the forum for General Questions. Also, please see: [Previous Columns/Posted 8/01/97](http://www.word-detective.com/back-l2.html#hello) and [Issue of November 27, 2001](http://www.word-detective.com/112701.html#hello) ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2011, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-hellooooooooo/571903/4 "2011-02-19T17:10:35Z")
On a slightly (un)related note, the way you worded it in the title (hellooooooo), began with Seinfeld. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/bjmgzLVuWLU/hqdefault.jpg "Seinfeld - The Voice "Hellooooooo!"") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjmgzLVuWLU) ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2011, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-hellooooooooo/571903/5 "2011-02-19T18:13:51Z")
> [@yuzarsif](#): > > well this is embarrassing 😕that when I am on phone or visit to my cousin the first thing that i used to say is hello … is that the word hello really have a hidden meaning besides .. \>? is that its meaning ’ is any body there ’ ? > why this word so much propagate in the world? to initiate even gossips . > does any body really identify the meaning of hello not its origin as i already know it? [Here’s what we know](http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=hello&searchmode=none): > [@](#): > > 1883, alteration of hallo, itself an alteration of holla, hollo, a shout to attract attention, first recorded 1580s. Perhaps from holla! “stop, cease.” OED cites O.H.G. hala, hola, emphatic imperative of halon, holon “to fetch,” “used esp. in hailing a ferryman.” 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). There’s also a popular story in Hungary that hello is a corruption of the Hungarian word _hallom_, meaning “I hear you.” The details of the story as I know it are related [here](http://hotword.dictionary.com/hello/)" > [@](#): > > […] According to Edison „Tivadar Puskás was the first person to suggest the idea of a telephone exchange” Puskás’s idea finally became a reality in 1877 in Boston. It was then that the word „ hallom „ which later became the word „hallo / hello” so familiar to us all 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 Puskás shouted out in Hungarian „hallom” „I hear you.” In 1879 he set up a telephone exchange in Paris where he looked after Thomas Edison’s European affairs for the next four years. I’ve always assumed this was just an urban legend, as the word “hello” in forms such as “hallo” and “hollo” exist back into the 16th century. I’ve never heard anyone with any linguistic credibility suggest the Hungarian origin is true, but I’m throwing it out there for you. ETA: Tivadar Puskas’s page on Wikipedia relates the same story, but with no citations to investigate the origin of this claim, other than the similarities between the two words. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2011, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-hellooooooooo/571903/6 "2011-02-19T18:28:18Z")
I think we ought to resurrect Bell’s original suggestion, along with foghorns, seagulls and bouy bells for default ringtones. ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2011, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-hellooooooooo/571903/7 "2011-02-19T18:42:39Z")
Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories have Sherlock Holmes use the exclamation “halloa” every now and then. I have no idea how common that was in the Victorian era, however. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2011, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-hellooooooooo/571903/8 "2011-02-19T20:24:03Z")
> [@yabob](#): > > I think we ought to resurrect Bell’s original suggestion, along with foghorns, seagulls and bouy bells for default ringtones. As a ringtone it’s not exactly the same, but one could easily set up “ahoy” as a mobile phone’s default ringtone. Or perhaps a foghorn. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2011, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-hellooooooooo/571903/9 "2011-02-19T20:28:37Z")
What I’ve heard is that before the telephone, the word had basically two usages: first was “HALLOO!” as in a ship captain trying to get the attention of some other ship far away. The other was as a mild oath, as in “Hello, what’s this?” ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2011, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-hellooooooooo/571903/10 "2011-02-19T20:39:45Z")
[![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/zclWJa0uq7o/hqdefault.jpg "Mr Burns Prank Call") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zclWJa0uq7o) ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2011, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-hellooooooooo/571903/11 "2011-02-19T20:43:46Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > First of all, I think you are in the wrong forum. > > As to your question, I remember reading somewhere that when the telephone was invented and became popular, there was a big question of etiquette as to how one should answer it. If memory serves, the word “hello” was pretty much invented (or at least, deliberately borrowed) for just that purpose. Sorry no cite, just a vague memory from a long-ago, bookish youth. I can’t find it online now, but in one of Cecil’s paperback collections of the SD column, there was a short trivia quiz at the end (or the beginning, I don’t remember which), and one of the questions discussed this. According to this, _ahoy, hoy_ was gradually supplanted by _hello_ which had not been in common use previously. Early phone equipment was not very good, and people often had to shout into the device to make themselves audible at the other end. Aside from the telephone, both expressions were typically used to address somebody presumably a considerable distance away. Think of expressions like _ship ahoy!_ and _hello, up there!_. I think this is also why people shout _hello!_ to hear an echo. I also think that the sarcastic usage of _hel-LO!!_ comes from this earlier usage of the word hello. Certainly it was used in _Back To The Future_, years before _Seinfeld_ was a glint in the word processors of Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David. ---
**Author:** ![scamartistry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@scamartistry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scamartistry)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2011, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-hellooooooooo/571903/12 "2011-02-20T01:18:14Z")
from “holla” - ORIGIN early 16th cent. (as an order to stop or cease): from French holà, from ho ‘ho!’ + là ‘there.’