04-06-2001 04:54									#1
	Where Does The Term Avatar Come From? Help yourself to an AD-FREE life

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.

	04-06-2001 05:04									#2
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IIRC an avatar is the form that the Hindu gods take on when they appear to humans...

	04-06-2001 07:29									#3
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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.

	04-06-2001 08:48									#4
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Thanks again you two! You guys {sniff}are always there {sniff}for me. I love {sniff} you guys {sniff}.

	07-06-2001 15:51									#5
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YourDictionary.com yields - from Marriam Webster (I think) ...

quote: 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 ...

	07-06-2001 19:41									#6
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Interesting information...thank you...

	07-06-2001 19:15									#7
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Or alternatively, here ...

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

Because It's the first dictionary I think of.

	08-06-2001 04:05									#8
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Gosh, you guys got to it first! Now here's the hard part: Name some traditional Hindu avatars and the Gods they represented!

	08-06-2001 14:11									#9
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Etymology SG? What have insects got to do with anything?

	08-06-2001 14:35									#10
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quote: Originally posted by Provost Harrison Etymology SG? What have insects got to do with anything?

quote: 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

	11-06-2001 01:32									#11
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There are avatars in Magic the Gathering also

	13-06-2001 04:44									#12
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Ahh, PH, was "entomology" the word you were thinking of? You must be showing your "inner American".

	13-06-2001 05:04									#13
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Er, you don't think he was making, you know, a joke? I'm pretty sure PH knows exactly what Etymology means.

	14-06-2001 17:21									#14
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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

	14-06-2001 19:00									#15
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quote: 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.

	15-06-2001 00:15									#16
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Krishna and Rama (I think) are avatars of Shiva (known as Rudra in ancient Hinduism). Buddha and Jesus have also been called his avatars. Naturally, there are probably upwards of thirty different avatars.

P.S. Vishnu is a name that keeps popping in my head, but I think he's part of the trimurtu along with Shiva and Brahma.

	15-06-2001 03:56									#17
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No, I believe that the three primary gods of the Hindus are: Rama, the creator, Vishnu the maintainer, and Shiva, the destroyer (this is an oversimplification of their roles). Bhrama is not a god.

	15-06-2001 19:15									#18
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Here's the full entry from the OED:

avatar.
[ad. Skr. avatara descent, f. ava down + t’r-, tar-, to pass over.]

1. Hindu Myth. The descent of a deity to the earth in an incarnate form.
1784 Sir W. Jones in Asiat. Res. I. 234 The ten Avatárs or descents of the deity, in his capacity of Preserver.
1858 Beveridge Hist. India II. iv. ii. 28 The fifth avatar, called Varuna, because in it Vishnu assumed the form of a dwarf.

2. Manifestation in human form; incarnation.
1815 Scott Paul’s Lett. (1839) 325 A third avatar of this singular emanation of the Evil Principle [Bonaparte].
1878 R. Sayler in N. Amer. Rev. CXXVI. 94 McClellan was..the very god of war, in his latest avatar.

3. Manifestation or presentation to the world as a ruling power or object of worship.
1859 Masson Milton I. 226 The avatar of Mathematics had not begun.
Ibid. 447 Glad that the avatar of Donne, as an intermediate power between Spenser and Milton, was so brief and partial.
1883 Harper’s Mag. Mar. 541/1 The Baireuth festivals..the completest and most characteristic avatars of art our century can shew.

4. loosely, Manifestation; display; phase.
1850 L. Hunt Autobiog. ii. (1860) 36 She ended with enjoying, and even abetting, this new avatar of the Church militant.
1880 L. Stephen Pope ii. 29 Wit and sense are but different avatars of the same spirit.