Where does “hi” come from?
hi (Middle Low German) comes from Middle Low German hê, from Old Saxon hē, from Proto-West Germanic *hiʀ, from Proto-Germanic hīz — nominative plural masculine of *hiz; these, these...
hi (Middle Low German): Alternative form of hê
Ancestry of “hi”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | Middle Low German | hê | — |
| 2 | Old Saxon | hē | — |
| 3 | Proto-West Germanic | *hiʀ | — |
| 4 | Proto-Germanic | hīz | nominative plural masculine of *hiz; these, these... |