Welcome to the debut of expendablenlightenment, a collection on non-sensical information, presented to you by Metro Business College's assortment of staff. The goal of these posts from this blog is meant to inform and entertain. With all hope, you might learn things that will assist you in winning a trivia competition. If you do win, you must share your winnings with us. Just kidding. (Or am I?)
Since this is all about welcome, I guess I should delve into greetings. What greeting was proposed by Alexander Graham Bell (inventor of the telephone)? It wasn't hello like we say today. It was actually "ahoy", the naval term. By 1889, the greeting was pretty much "hello" like we usually say today, and the women who worked at the central telephone exchange were called "hello-girls" because of the greeting.
But what about the word "hello"? There are a few places it could've come from. Perhaps "hullo", which is defined as a British variant of our "hello", but it can be found in publications as early as around 1800. Then there's "hallo" which is a variant of the word "hollo". "Hollo" is to shout or call attention in a hunt when what's being hunted has been found. By the 1860's, "hollo" had become "hallo" mostly. Also, interestingly enough, the word "hallo" means "hello" in German, Danish, Norwegian, Dutch, and Afrikaans. There's also a word similar which is obsolete now: "holla" which means stop. Either way, it would get someone's attention, like yelling "Hello!"
In the end, most words follow a life: they begin, they change, and many times they die. The key is that they change. Most likely, "hello" came from the Old English word "hǽlan", which comes from a German origin. This word in German ends up today "heil". Most of the English language comes from German origin, and since words change (sounds, meanings, spellings, etc.), this is the most likely source.
Bet you didn't know that!
