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'Hello' existed before the telephone, mostly as a shout to get attention. In 1877 Thomas Edison proposed it as the word to use on the new phones, while Alexander Graham Bell preferred 'ahoy'. Edison's choice won, and it helped make 'hello' the everyday English greeting.

Etymology

Language

The story behind the card

Hello is first found in print in 1826, in a Connecticut newspaper. It grew out of older calls such as hallo and hollo, used to hail a ferryman or attract notice, and has been spelt in many ways, from hullo to hallo. In August 1877 Edison wrote to the head of a Pittsburgh telegraph company that no call bell would be needed, because a shouted 'Hello!' could be heard 3 to 6 metres (10 to 20 feet) away. Bell answered with 'ahoy', a sailors' call, but it never caught on. By 1889, telephone exchange operators were nicknamed 'hello girls'. The word also travelled abroad: French borrowed it as allô, and from French it passed into other languages, including Turkish, where it became alo.

Türkçe oku
İngilizcedeki “hello” telefondan önce de vardı, ama daha çok dikkat çekmek için bağırılan bir sözdü. Thomas Edison 1877'de telefonda bu sözün kullanılmasını önerdi; Alexander Graham Bell ise “ahoy” demeyi yeğliyordu. Edison'ın önerisi tuttu ve “hello”nun İngilizcenin gündelik selamı olmasında büyük pay sahibi oldu.

“Hello” sözcüğü basılı olarak ilk kez 1826'da, Connecticut'ta çıkan bir gazetede görülür. Karşı kıyıdaki kayıkçıyı çağırmak ya da dikkat çekmek için kullanılan hallo, hollo gibi eski seslenişlerden türedi; hullo'dan hallo'ya pek çok yazımı vardı. Edison Ağustos 1877'de Pittsburgh'daki bir telgraf şirketinin başkanına yazdığı mektupta, telefona zil gerekmeyeceğini, çünkü “Hello!” diye bağırınca sesin 3-6 metre öteden duyulacağını söyledi. Bell ise denizcilerin seslenişi “ahoy”u öneriyordu, ama bu tutmadı. 1889'a gelindiğinde telefon santrallerindeki operatörlere “hello kızları” deniyordu. Sözcük sınırları da aştı: Fransızca onu allô biçiminde aldı; telefonu açarken söylediğimiz “alo” da Türkçeye Fransızcadan geçti.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Hello
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