# What is the meaning of "Hello" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 1, 2003, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-meaning-of-hello/172294 "2003-05-01T02:59:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bobrob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a4c791/32.png) [@bobrob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobrob)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2003, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-meaning-of-hello/172294/1 "2003-05-01T02:59:41Z")
Hi. Does anyone know the true and thorough history of the word Hello, in English? I’m wondering where it came from etc. ---
**Author:** ![brianmelendez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/65b543/32.png) [@brianmelendez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brianmelendez)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2003, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-meaning-of-hello/172294/2 "2003-05-01T03:04:44Z")
Staff report: [What’s the origin of “ahoy”?](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mahoy.html) > [@](#): > > Alexander Graham Bell suggested “ahoy!” as the standard telephone greeting, but it didn’t catch on–for obvious reasons, you may think. Don’t be so sure. Brooklyn College professor Allen Koenigsberg, author of The Patent History of the Phonograph, argues that the word that did catch on, “hello,” was previously unknown and may have been invented by the man who proposed it, Thomas Edison. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2003, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-meaning-of-hello/172294/3 "2003-05-01T03:15:58Z")
And some more info from the Word Detective: [http://www.word-detective.com/back-l2.html#hello](http://www.word-detective.com/back-l2.html#hello) ---
**Author:** ![drhess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/94ad74/32.png) [@drhess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drhess)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2003, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-meaning-of-hello/172294/4 "2003-05-01T03:17:46Z")
My dictionary says it used to be “hollo” but it doesn’t give any root or history. It does say it started in 1889. Hollo is dated to 1500s, but unkown origin. Was a shout in hunts apparently. ---
**Author:** ![bobrob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a4c791/32.png) [@bobrob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobrob)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2003, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-meaning-of-hello/172294/5 "2003-05-01T03:23:36Z")
So, before that time, when people greeted each other, what did they say? Did they say, “Hello?” ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2003, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-meaning-of-hello/172294/6 "2003-05-01T03:30:58Z")
Hello is probably related to similar voices: Spanish hola, French holà, Germa hallo etc. They all seem to date back to the mid 16th century ---
**Author:** ![drhess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/94ad74/32.png) [@drhess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drhess)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2003, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-meaning-of-hello/172294/7 "2003-05-01T03:36:29Z")
In many langues they say Good day or How are you. I forget what the Russian word for greeting translates, too, but it is so damn long (starts with several consonants IIRC) people just shorten it to a slang version. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2003, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-meaning-of-hello/172294/8 "2003-05-01T03:43:50Z")
I think it means “Be well.” ---
**Author:** ![brianmelendez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/65b543/32.png) [@brianmelendez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brianmelendez)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2003, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-meaning-of-hello/172294/9 "2003-05-01T03:48:57Z")
From [Wordorigins](http://www.wordorigins.org/wordorh.htm#Hello): > [@](#): > > **Hello** > > This greeting is much newer than most people think. The use of _hello_ as a greeting is only as old as the telephone. 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 Shakespeare’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. ---
**Author:** ![tonbo0422](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b5e925/32.png) [@tonbo0422](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tonbo0422)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2003, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-meaning-of-hello/172294/10 "2003-05-01T04:07:25Z")
Hello is hello. But how on earth did it graduate to hi? ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2003, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-meaning-of-hello/172294/11 "2003-05-01T04:11:09Z")
Or hey? ---
**Author:** ![DarrenS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/977dab/32.png) [@DarrenS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarrenS)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2003, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-meaning-of-hello/172294/12 "2003-05-01T04:38:10Z")
Or " 'sup " ? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2003, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-meaning-of-hello/172294/13 "2003-05-01T12:28:02Z")
When I was a kid (too young to be allowed to answer the phone) I thought the correct greeting was “Moshi moshi”. ---
**Author:** ![green\_bladder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@green\_bladder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/green_bladder)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2003, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-meaning-of-hello/172294/14 "2003-05-01T13:45:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Johnny L.A. \* > \*\*When I was a kid (too young to be allowed to answer the phone) I thought the correct greeting was “Moshi moshi”. \*\* It \* is \* correct in Japanese. ---
**Author:** ![TaxGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@TaxGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TaxGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2003, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-meaning-of-hello/172294/15 "2003-05-01T13:56:27Z")
In case anyone is wondering about hello in Russian it’s: (spelled phonetically) strosst-voo-eet-ya, with the emphasis on the first syllable. The slang version is strozzy. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2003, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-meaning-of-hello/172294/16 "2003-05-01T14:02:12Z")
When answering the phone in Cantonese it’s “WAI???” and in Italian it’s “Pronto!”. ---
**Author:** ![bobrob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a4c791/32.png) [@bobrob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobrob)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2003, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-meaning-of-hello/172294/17 "2003-05-01T22:56:57Z")
So, prior to the 1800’s or so, what did people use as a greeting in English? ---
**Author:** ![stoyel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/54ee81/32.png) [@stoyel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stoyel)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2003, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-meaning-of-hello/172294/18 "2003-05-01T23:07:42Z")
Howdy. ---
**Author:** ![j\_kat\_251](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/71c47a/32.png) [@j\_kat\_251](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j_kat_251)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2003, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-meaning-of-hello/172294/19 "2003-05-02T01:50:25Z")
Good day. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2003, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-meaning-of-hello/172294/20 "2003-05-02T02:47:36Z")
G’day, govna! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-meaning-of-hello/172294.md?page=2)