Forget about HELLO. It is a trivial example by now. When a phone rings, we do say HELLO. Thats the end of it. After that it its the local language!! Haha. Hindi is recognised and understoodc by about 80% of Indians. Ha, not American , S or N, Natives.
Rubbish. As usual. http://www.google.co.uk/search?clie...hp&q=hello etymology&meta=&btnG=Google Search
Not on this planet. There are various hypotheses, but the most thorough and most widely supported is that it is two very old words that reinforced each other. Old Germanic hala or hola, the imperative inflection of halan or holan, "to fetch." It was used specifically to hail a ferryman, as in "come fetch me." Anglo-Saxon was originally a dialect of Old High German, so the Saxon invaders brought it to Britannia or "Angle Land" as it's now known. Old French ho là, a cry used by hunters to identify themselves. Là means "there" so they were essentially shouting, "Hey there!" (H was not always a silent letter in French.) The Norman French ruled England for centuries and our language is full of French words.
Coming back to HELLO. When my g'daughter was about one year, she had a curious mannerism. If you said HELLOW and proffered your hand, she would hold your index finger and say , very sweetly, ELLO! But if you did not profffer your hand, she grabbed her PINK INVISIBILE mobile and put it to her ear: ELLOW, unca. It had to be PINK, as she liked pink. Heavens, I could not see, but she could use it, so it had to be invisible [to grown up morrons].
At 2 1/2 years, my g'lovey responds to her "mobile: ELOOW uncle. Of course she acts as we DO. Children are copy cats.
