What is the origin of Hello ?
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, hello is an alteration of hallo, hollo, which came from Old High German "hal��, hol��, emphatic imperative of hal��n, hol��n to fetch, used especially in hailing a ferryman". It also connects the development of hello to the influence of an earlier form, holla, whose origin is in the French hol�� (roughly, 'whoa there!', from French l�� 'there')