THE ORIGIN OF TO HAIL FROM
Tuesday July 7th, 2009
HAIL FROM
Hail was almost exclusively a nautical term until the mid 18th century. It was customary for passing ships to ‘hail’ each other. The information swapped usually included the name of the ports from which the ships were sailing. They were said to ‘hail from’ there. Eventually the term passed into everyday language to mean where a person was born or grew up.
