(chou)
interjection Used to express greeting or farewell.
Word History: Ciao first appears in English in 1929 in Hemingway's
A Farewell to Arms, which is set in northeast Italy during World War I. It is likely that this is where Hemingway learned the word, for
ciau in Venetian dialect means “servant, slave,” and, as a casual greeting, “I am your servant.”
Ciau corresponds to standard Italian
schiavo; both words come from Medieval Latin
sclavus, “slave.” A similar development took place with
servus, the Classical Latin word for “slave,” in southern Germany, Austria, Hungary, and Poland, where
servus is used as a casual greeting like
ciao. At the opposite end of the world, in Southeast Asia, one even sees words meaning “slave” or “your slave” that have developed into pronouns of the first person, again to indicate respect and humility.
