"Ahoy!" ... where it comes from

[Edward T. Porter]

"Ahoy/ Ahoi" as a sailor greeting between seafarers became unusual in present. In the past the exclamation was so current with European sailors that it´s used in in maritime songs and literature until today.

Linguists suspect: The word derives from "Ho or Hoi" - a tone spread in the old Europe, with which shepperds urged their bulls/ cows/ oxens/ sheeps.

Ahoi or Aho were used in order to wake the Crew if a foreign ship turned up or country came in view.

In some German areas "Helau / Alaaf" is used as an Carnival-greeting. These words derive from "Ahoi". Why you can find these maritime word at carnival moves?

The splendidly decorated "fool ship" represented the climax in the carnival moves earlier. The dancing and rumbling "crew" used the old reputation in order to spur on the crowd.

Ahoi would have become almost our usual telephone greeting: Graham Bell is supposed to have proposed the word... but on the end Thomas Edison with his favourite " Hello!" was the winner!

Sources: Peter Moosleitners magazine, edition 12/05, (German popular scientific magazine)

[Red Maria]

Oddly enough this term doesn't appear in Henry Manwearing Seaman's Dictionary of 1644. The earilest refernce the OED gives is Smollet (sorry about that) in 1751. So the term is not all that old.

Edited May 8, 2006 by Red Maria

[CaptainJackRussell]

afaik (a real captain here from Hamburg told me) "Ahoi" is simply a construction of vocals with the highest noise amplizudes, which means, it is exactly what you have to shout if you wish that your call will take the maximum distance possible.

"Alaaf" seems to be a old warcry from the cologne people. It means in cologne-german "All-Aaf", over all. So the complete meaning is "Cologne Over all".

Where "Helau" comes from...no idea

Keep ye' powder dry,

Jack

[Fox]

I'm pretty certain that the Seaman's Vade Mecum of 1707 gives "Hoa hoa", but not "Ahoy".

Of course, it leaves the argument open as to how long the word (or noise effectively) was in use before it made it into print.

[CaptainJackRussell]

Foxe, Porter and myself, we're german.

Maybe, Ahoy is the german hoa hoa?

Jack

[Charity]

Actually..if that is a valid explanation it sounds more like Dutch, precisely like Dutch actually..

"Ho or Hoi" - a tone spread in the old Europe

Hoi is the precise same as Hi, just in Dutch :)

Still very much used.