Ou resident etymythologist, Jazzoctopus, came up with a very good story regarding the origin of "hello." Here are a few relevant urls you might bee interested in: http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?ahoy
http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?hollo
http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?hello
http://www.dictionary.com/cgi-bin/dict.pl?term=hello

Try doing a search for "hello" on the Board to find Jazz's masterful treatise.