 According to the "Oxford English Dictionary", "hello" is an alteration of "hallo", "hollo", which came from Old High German ""halâ", "holâ", emphatic imperative of "halôn", "holôn" 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 "holà" (roughly, 'whoa there!