What is the origin of the word "Hola"?

Question

I found one source that says it is greek but no explanation. There is no spanish etymology dictionary online. i thought it came from a latin rootword.

Answer 1

There seems to be no agreement on this among experts. The RAE dictionary online (http://lema.rae.es/drae/) says, "Voz expr.; cf. ingl. hello, al. hallo." Similarities to the Arabic expression could be by chance.

And the only problem with the Visogothic explanation is that the Visogoths were not Slavs, they were Germanic.

Correct. What about "hello"? ;^) - chileno, Oct 3, 2015

Answer 2

The Arabic Moors occupied Spain from 711 and were here until 1609. Their religion, farming methods, architecture and language had a big influence and is still in evidence today. The word Hola which is used by all Spanish people to greet each other came from the Arab word Allah.

Welcome to SpanishDict. This is an older thread from 2013. - rac1, Dec 8, 2015

Answer 3

I've heard also that world "hola" was brought to Spain by Visigothic warriors of Slavic origin. Hola was a signal world used by Slavic chieftain to stop the troops (and still is used to this day if you want to stop someone). They would shout Hola! and raise their hand and some locals could read it as greeting.

Answer 4

This from Wiktionary -

Etymology From Spanish hola, and this from Arabic wa-All?h

Good answer! Five hundred years of Arabic occupation in Spain left us this heritage. - francobollo, Jan 18, 2013

Answer 5

Hola comes from the Arabic and it means Peace be upon (with) God. This has evolved into Peace be with you, which is a very romantic and polite way of saying Hello.