the history behind saying bye and hello. and i want to find out bye and hello originates from which language.
133256
Hiya :-) ! I think it is because the "bye-bye" is more emotionally meant... because, usually, you would say "goodbye"... you are really leaving someone, whereas with "Hello", you would still spend time with the person? I also think the second "bye" really emphasises that. You could just say "Bye" as well, which might sound colder or indifferent. To some people, "Bye-Bye" is just what they got used to. Hmmm :o) ... don't know. Just my thoughts. \n\nCould not read the links yet but will definitely help you... probably :-) . Have a nice weekend :-) !
309107
it's still used.\ni guess it's universal. old language and all
408840
You forget, darling, that the English language originated & came from Britain,  and the British preserved the original & correct pronunciation & style of speaking which sets the standard for English wherever it may be spoken.  \n\nAmerican, Caribbean, and other dialects of English are not original , have been altered & modified.  I am American but I dream of speaking proper British English as they do.  I love how they speak.  \n\nAfter all, English came from Britain, not from America or anywhere else.  And everyone here in America has their own peculiar style of speech.  this always happens with dialects which develop.\n\nI wish everyone spoke like the educated British, really.
658156
It is official.  Has been for centuries, actually.  It won out by only one vote over the proposal that we speak German.  Can you see how history might have been different if we didn't have this as our official language?\n\nAnd if Ben Franklin had his way, our national bird would have been the turkey.  Yikes!
342988
The earliest human language was in Africa about 100,000 years ago.  We have, of course, no records of that language since writing was not invented for another 95,000 years.\n\nAnd to correct errors in previous answers:  Latin and Greek are NOT the ancestors of the world's languages.  Latin is the ancestor of about 20 modern languages of Europe and Greek is just the ancestor of Modern Greek.  Old Chinese is the ancestor of the half dozen Chinese languages.  There are about 200 Indo-European languages and about 6000 languages in the world, so most of the world's languages are NOT Indo-European.
145691
English is a West Germanic language, thus its closest relatives are Dutch, German, and Frisian.  Due to invasions and settlements by the North Germanic peoples (Danes, etc.), we have borrowed many words from them, such as skirt, sky, egg, etc.  \n\nThe earliest language which can be called English, dates to about the mid 5th century AD.  Before that, the 3 groups that colonized England and Southern Scotland (Jutes, Angles and Saxons) were living on the European mainland speaking their own Germanic dialects.  Germanic itself is just one branch of language that broke away from an earlier language, called Proto-Indoeuropean.
402456
Hello!\n Good Morning=kalo proi\nGood day=Kali mera\nHello= ghia' or ghiassoo (hi to you).\nBye= ghia' (again) or ghiassoo.\nAs you may notice, ghia equals hi.\nIn formal type is ghiassas (hi to you all or hi, to an elder one).\nDon't mix good day with good morning. This is a common error\neven greeks do. Good morning= kalo proi\nGood day=kali mera.\nOn kalo proi stress on lo and i.\nOn kali mera stress on li and me.\n Ciao.....John-John.
500972
You are very wrong my friend. Look up the history of languages and you will see that there were other languages before that.\nPhoenician greek latin...\nMost languages derive from these ones. And don't try to convince us that phoenician greek and latin come from arabic cause that's a bunch of bull.
467173
Regardless of what the others said, you can't really say "hello" in Swahili.  Jambo is Kenyan slang for "matters", i.e. "What's happening?"  Habari yako is "what's your news" or "how are you".\n\nThat's the problem with several of these languages - the English "hello" simply doesn't translate.  Of course, I prefer "howdy" or "hi" to "hello", but any will work.\n\nFrench : bonjour or bonsoir\n\nTurkish : merhaba
341425
NO QUESTION ABOUT IT, It is either\n\nTamil, Summerian or Sanskrit\n\nTamil dating back more than 3500-4000bc \nand the birth of Tamil language is still known known yet.\nSummerian something similar to Tamil but not as old \nand Sanskrit dating back 1500bc\n\nBut both Summerian and Sanskrit are dead languages today, the use of Tamil language is still present, \nso Tamil language is the oldest language in use till today.
485651
Since i'm a muslim, i'll answer for myself then. The full construction of that greeting is Assalamo Alaikom (peace and God's salvation upon you), but even saying Selaam is sufficient :)\n\nNo, it's not inappropriate of you to greet me (for example) with selam .... as u can see from its translation - it really has a beautiful meaning.\n\nThanks for being one of the rare tolerant persons in this forum .... that's the type of people that keep me coming back.\n\nHow should i greet you? Thanks in advance :)
214613
HELLO    : Teanastëllën(pronounced teen-ass-tell-an) or the informal way is also(as in goodbye) SALAM(pronounced sall-aam)pronounced all together in rapiditiy.. sallaam.. by the way, this SALAM is also heavily arabic. I used  that word in hello and goodbye in Mauritania and other Arab countries.\n\n\nGoodbye: To a man: Dehna hun (pronounced day-na hun--as in hunt).. that is to a man in somewhat formal tones.\n\nGoodbye: to a man in somewhat informal: SELAM (prounounced say-laam)\n\nThank you:  Amesegënallô(as in: Ame-segi-na-lew ) thus, pronounced as: amay-saygi-nah-lou)\n\nThis langukage is used a log in Ethiopia, Egypt and even Israel
529687
Chinese might be the Oldest . But languages in Ancient Scriptures found for Ancient Egyptian and Indus Valley Civilizations might also be older than Chinese. And so could be predecessors of Greek and Latin . So it is an Open ENDED Question  !!!
240412
I don't know the true origin of it. Always wondered what it meant, but I think it means, this isn't right.
365395
The origin of the ubiquitous psuedo-word "OK" or "okay" has proven to be one of the biggest war grounds in etymology. It is not specifically of English origin, being used all over the world in many different languages. The letters "OK" would be understood by an Englishman or Frenchman alike.\n\nSo what are some of the stories surrounding OK?\n\nThe Greeks had an incantation of "Omega, Khi" with which they drove away fleas. \nThe Finnish language has the word "oikea." \nLiberian English has the term "oke." \nBurmese has "hoakeh." \nThe infamous jokers at the Boston Morning Post claimed, in 1839, OK was short for "ORL KORREKT." \nThe Times, in 1939, claimed it had London Cockney origins, from "Orl Korrec." \nAmerican Indians used the word "okeh" which meant "it is so." The story goes that Andrew Jackson picked up the word during the Battle of New Orleans in 1815. \nSome Latin scholars claim that "Omnis Korecta" is the origin. \nA site called The Straight Dope claims it is convinced of the true etymology. It claims the Bostonian "OLL KORRECT" is the true origin of "OK." Another site, however, claims the American Indian etymology is correct.\n\nThis is one of the finest examples of the entertainment of language. Despite technology, historical documents, and the availability of some of the most learned people in history, we still can't work out the etymology of a simple two syllable utterance! Long may it continue.
195059
oy oy oy ...\n\nAt one time we actually pronounced all of those letters..knight was k nicht..  \n\nnow, when the french attacked the Anglos in 1088 at the Battle of Hastings...French was introduced.  It was the high language for the people...yet, documents were still being written in Latin---a phonetic language.  All of this mixing and borrowing brought about such oddities...  You can consult the Oxford English Dictionary or a Book of Cognates to further explore how words evolved and changed.  Cognates basically mean cousins....such a book will show you the relationship between such words that may have the same or similar meanings.\n\nby the way, Knife was originally knive [ka nee va]...then, as language evolved, we started merging sounds...and it became [ka nif] and todays [nif].\n\nGo check out Labov.  He currently teaches at Penn.  He is the founding father of socio-linguistics.  He recently put out some of his latest research on a website that can be linked via npr.org.  It examines the Great Northern Vowel Shift and how the New England area of the US is sounding different every day.\n\nOh, and a key point to your answer is the PRINTING PRESS.  The printing press basically ended up preserving language from the mid 1500's.  So, even though we sounded differently...spelling had become regulated, grammaticians more strict, and language more preserved.  Therefore, spelling rules of the 1500's are still in place today.\n\nIf you need anything else, just let me know.  :-)
675746
kuntag\ni think it means hi in german