Salutation
a sign which custom has rendered common, for expressing to others, in our intercourse with them, our esteem, love, submission, or good will.
Greeting (in German, gruss, grüssen), is derived from the Low German gröten, to make great: thus "God greet you, means, "God make you great-bless you."
Salutation sometimes consists of certain gestures. Sometimes an express assurance or wish is added to these mute signs of feeling. The difference in the forms of salutation often extends so far that one nation considers that a mark of rudeness which another esteems a mark of civility.
The military salutations which were introduced among the Germans in the beginning of the 16th century consist in touching the hat or cap, lowering the standards and the sword, or raising the musket. Vessels, when meeting, salute each other by a discharge of cannon, by striking the flag, or by the cheers of the sailors, etc.