Where Does The Term Avatar Come From?

[MBloomIII]

Does anybody know? Is it some sort of shortening of a couple of words or perhaps an acronym for something? I've not encountered the word outside of BB's.

[Hueij]

IIRC an avatar is the form that the Hindu gods take on when they appear to humans...

[Buck Birdseed]

That's right, it's Sanskrit and means (roughly) manifestation. I have encountered the name before, it was very much in vogue during the brief infatuation with Virtual Reality in the early nineties, to use as a descriptor of your person in the game. Who knows, maybe William Gibson or someone like that imported it into the english language. Since then, it's basically been commonplace in graphical chatrooms, for little more than a picture that is "you". From there the transition to this phenomenon isn't big.

[MBloomIII]

Thanks again you two! You guys {sniff}are always there {sniff}for me. I love {sniff} you guys {sniff}.

[Scouse Gits]

YourDictionary.com yields - from Marriam Webster (I think) ...

Main Entry: av.a.tar
Pronunciation: 'a-v&-"tär
Function: noun
Etymology: Sanskrit avatAra descent, from avatarati he descends, from ava- away + tarati he crosses over -- more at UKASE, THROUGH
Date: 1784
1 : the incarnation of a Hindu deity (as Vishnu)
2 a : an incarnation in human form b : an embodiment (as of a concept or philosophy) often in a person
3 : a variant phase or version of a continuing basic entity

I recommend getting yourDictionary - it sits as a button in your Links bar (in IE) and all you need to do is highlight a word and click on the button ...

[Gary]

Or alternatively, here ...

http://www.dictionary.com/cgi-bin/dict.pl?term=avatar

Because It's the first dictionary I think of.

[Zopperoni]

Interesting information...thank you...

[Dr Strangelove]

Gosh, you guys got to it first! Now here's the hard part: Name some traditional Hindu avatars and the Gods they represented!

[Provost Harrison]

Etymology SG? What have insects got to do with anything?

[Scouse Gits]

Originally posted by Provost Harrison
Etymology SG? What have insects got to do with anything?

from yourDictionary.com
Main Entry: et.y.mol.o.gy
Pronunciation: -jE
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English ethimologie, from Latin etymologia, from Greek, from etymon + -logia -logy
Date: 14th century
Inflected Form(s): plural -gies
1 : the history of a linguistic form (as a word) shown by tracing its development since its earliest recorded occurrence in the language where it is found, by tracing its transmission from one language to another, by analyzing it into its component parts, by identifying its cognates in other languages, or by tracing it and its cognates to a common ancestral form in an ancestral language
2 : a branch of linguistics concerned with etymologies
- et.y.mo.log.i.cal /-m&-'l@-ji-k&l/ adjective
- et.y.mo.log.i.cal.ly /-k(&-)lE/ adverb

[Jer8m8]

There are avatars in Magic the Gathering also

[Dr Strangelove]

Ahh, PH, was "entomology" the word you were thinking of? You must be showing your "inner American".

[Buck Birdseed]

Er, you don't think he was making, you know, a joke? I'm pretty sure PH knows exactly what Etymology means.

[Provost Harrison]

The wink smiley was supposed to denote it was a joke, just for the slow witted around here A play on words, if you will. Etymology is the study of the origin of words and stuff, entomology is the study of insects.

The one I like is the similarity between the words 'masturbation' and 'mastication' meaning two totally different things. 'Mensuration' and 'menstruation' can also be interesting

[MBloomIII]

Originally posted by Provost Harrison
The wink smiley was supposed to denote it was a joke, just for the slow witted around here A play on words, if you will. Etymology is the study of the origin of words and stuff, entomology is the study of insects.

The one I like is the similarity between the words 'masturbation' and 'mastication' meaning two totally different things. 'Mensuration' and 'menstruation' can also be interesting

Yes, in my job I often have need to masticate meat.