hello

so it occured to me during a conversation i was having with my friend rei that the meaning of the word “hello” is actually very ambiguous for something that we use everyday.

in japanese, korean, and chinese:
“hello” as it pertains to 今日は(konnichiwa)、御機嫌よう(gokigenyou) both ask a person how they are on a particular day.
if you take apart the structure of the interjection 今日は、you get the noun 今日(today, this day) and the article は(to be); 御機嫌よう yields 機嫌 (a person’s mood) and よう (article)
as it pertains to mandarin/cantonese: 你好嗎 (ni hao ma, nei hou ma) yields 你 (you); 好 (good, well); and 嗎 (inquisitory article), basically asking “are you well?”
as it pertains to korean: 안녕하세요 /annjʌŋhasejo/ the verb phrase can be divided into two sections 안녕 and 하세요; 안녕 or 安寧 means “peace”. while the vp 하세요 is an inquistory form of “to be”, basically asking “are you at peace?”

as it pertains to indo-european languages:
the “good day” family
Dutch “goeden dag”
French “bonjour”
German “guten tag”
Italian “buon giorno”
Spanish “buenos dias”

the salutational family
English “hello, hi”
French “salut”
Latin “salve”
Spanish “hola”

so from my narrow understanding of languages and how it pertains to different cultures:

given the compact and concise nature of the asiatic languages (i.e. its cuneiform/characteristic nature) their day to day greeting goes a little further than to acknowledge the others existance than salute them or to comment on the good/wellness of a day (this comes from the assumption that one has to exist or be alive to know whether a day is “good”) and asks them how they are feeling. this may be attributed to the fact that eastern philosophy seems to focus more on respect and tends to see things on a more introverted and personal level than the west.

the indo-european greeting however. focuses on saluting a person’s existance, or stating that a day is good — by saluting someone’s existance you are thereby acknowledging that person’s existance within the bigger picture; likewise, stating a day is good also means that there are bad days along with good days, thereby implying that today is just another day within a bigger picture, tying in with the idea that western philosophy and psychology encourages extrovertedness and seeing the bigger picture.

it’s interesting to note though, that the asiatic forms of greetings have followed suit with its indo-european forms and have altered their greetings in the means of abbreviation:
Japanese  こんにちは　→　ちっす
Korean 안녕하세요　→　안녕
Mandarin/Cantonese 你好嗎　→　 你好

and yes, i do realize that the example i used in Japanese is far from being the best, but it does illustrate my point that through this abbreviation, the greetings are no longer inquisitive in nature but becomes a more salutary form like those in the indo-european family. it is also interesting to note that these abbreviated, salutary forms are considered less honorific and/or informal, perhaps a reflection on the lack of formality in the case of the “salutary greetings” or an overabundance of formality in the asiatic languages…

either way, hello is a fascinating word…