Date:    Mon, 4 May 1998 15:03:13 -0400
<br>From:    Beverly Flanigan <flanigan[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]OAK.CATS.OHIOU.EDU>
<br>Subject: Re: hello, hello, and 99 bottles
<br>
<br>And of course the Old English "waes hael" (be well > wassail, heal,
<br>healthy) preceded the later "hail," as in "hail fellow, well met."
<br>
<br>A sidenote (or sideways shift):  In southern Ohio the tense /e/ of 'sale'
<br>is laxed to /E/ (as in 'hail > hello' too) or even lowered to /ae/, as in
<br>'available.'  Similar laxing occurs with /i/, as in 'feel' > [fIl] and
<br>'field > [fIld].  How widespread is this?  I have it as far north as Dayton
<br>(on US 70), but I don't think it's in Columbus.
<br>
<br>BTW, we did "if one of those bottles ..." in Minnesota in the '50s, but
<br>I've heard the other version since too.
<br>
<br>At 04:36 PM 5/4/98 +0200, you wrote:
<br>>The use of "ahoy" for "hello" on the telephone underlines the fact that
<br>>"halloa" (etc.) was first used for hailing, or "hallooing".
<br>>
<br>>The earliest attestation of hello (et al) as greeting /interjection that
<br>>the OED gives for British English is 1840:
<br>>
<br>>"Halloa there! Hugh," roared John.
<br>> (Barnaby Rudge)
<br>>
<br>>An 1857 attestation is:
<br>>
<br>>"Hullo, who's there."
<br>>(Tom Brown's Schooldays. I, XI)
<br>>
<br>>But in fact as a verb, the OED can go further back, to 1781:
<br>>
<br>>They were all halloaing at this oddity.
<br>>(Madame D'Arblay: Diary, May)
<br>>
<br>>I was wondering what colloquial greetings if any, predated "hello"? in
<br>>the United States. For British English I found early-mid 19th century
<br>>_What cheer!_ in Dickens - something I used as a child, pronounced "what
<br>>CHER".   As in the old London song "Knocked me in the Old Kent Road",
<br>>which starts:
<br>>
<br>>"What cher!" all the neighbours cried. "Who're you gonna meet Bill?
<br>>Have you bought the street, Bill?"
<br>>
<br>>Another older form that's still occasionally heard is  _What-o!"_
<br>>(probably "what-ho!")
<br>>
<br>>David Sutcliffe
<br>>
<br>