hollo / hullo/ hello / hi / hey as simple greetings

[Wilson Gray]

FWIW, I thought that I remembered from somewhere or other the spellings
"holloa" and "halloa" and, sure enough, they're in the OED. And I'm
beginning to think that it was in the OED that I remember these
spellings from. Oh, well. I thought I had something, for a minute,
there.

-Wilson

On Feb 22, 2005, at 9:18 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
> Subject:      hollo / hullo/ hello / hi / hey as simple greetings
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> --------
>
> OED does a less than satisfactory job with "hello" and variants used
> as simple greetings rather than calls to people at a distance - or
> interjections of surprise.  Part of the reason is no doubt the
> ambiguity of  early exx.
>
> Many of you will be familiar with the widespread canard that "hello"
> was invented by Thomas Edison specifically for use on the newfangled
> telephone.
>
> Here is an early example of "hollo!" that looks like a simple
> greeting.  (Naturally, not all doubt can be removed.)
>
> 1841 Leman Rede Sixteen-String Jack (London: G. H. Davidson, n.d.) 36
> [characters nearly face to face] "Hollo, old boy!  I'm glad to see you
> back again!"
>
> "Hi !" has followed an identical course. OED's 1862 may be misplaced,
> however. And what's the word "car" doing in 1885?  It doesn't seem to
> be a railway car.
>
> By the time we get to F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1920, the cite for "Hi !"
> shows unmistakably  the current usage.
>
> OED doesn't include the universal Southern U.S. "hey!" as an exact
> equivalent of "hi!"  Dating this accurately will also be difficult.
> (I once thought only Gomer Pyle said it. Travel *is* broadening.)
>
> JL
>
>
> ---------------------------------
> Do you Yahoo!?
>  Yahoo! Mail - You care about security. So do we.
>