avatar
English
Etymology
1784,[1] borrowed from Hindi अवतार (avtār) or from Urdu اوتار (avatār), both borrowed from Sanskrit अवतार (ava-tāra, “descent of a deity from a heaven”), a compound of अव (ava, “off, away, down”) and the vṛddhi-stem of the root तरति (√tṝ, “to cross”).
In computing use, saw some use in 1980s videos games – 1985 online role-playing game Habitat by Lucasfilm Games (today LucasArts), by Chip Morningstar and Randy Farmer,[2] later versions of the Ultima series (following religious use in 1985 Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar), and 1989 pen and paper role-playing game Shadowrun. Popularized by 1992 novel Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson.[1]
Pronunciation
Noun
avatar (plural avatars)
- (Hinduism) the incarnation of a deity, particularly Vishnu.
- The physical embodiment of an idea or concept; a personification.
- 1886, Robert Louis Stevenson, dedicatory letter to Kidnapped [contrasting the historical Alan Breac with his incarnation in the novel].
- And honest Alan, who was a grim fire-eater in his day, has in this new avatar no more desperate purpose than to steal some young gentleman's attention from his Ovid...
- 1886, Robert Louis Stevenson, dedicatory letter to Kidnapped [contrasting the historical Alan Breac with his incarnation in the novel].
- (computing or video games) A digital representation of a person or being; often, it can take on any of various forms, as a participant chooses. e.g. 3D, animated, photo, sketch of a person or a person's alter ego, sometimes used in a virtual world or virtual chat room.
- 1992 Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash
- The people are pieces of software called avatars. They are the audiovisual bodies that people use to communicate with each other in the Metaverse.
- 2013 November 27, Roger Cohen, “The past in our future [print version: International Herald Tribune Magazine, 2013, p. 21]”, in The New York Times:
- Devices now track and record our every move and, whether we like it or not, each one of us will bequeath to posterity a virtual avatar, a digital being whose calls, messages, transactions, loves and losses will live on in a vast, unregulated cyberspace. The afterlife has arrived, at least for our cyberbeings.
- 1992 Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash
Translations
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See also
References
- “avatar” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary, 2001–2019.
- Morabito, Margaret. "Enter the Online World of LucasFilm." Run Aug. 1986: 24-28
French
Etymology
From Hindustani (Hindi-Urdu) अवतार (avtār) / اوتار (avatār), from Sanskrit अवतार (ava-tāra, “descent of a deity from a heaven”), a compound of अव (ava, “off, away, down”) and the vṛddhi-stem of the root तरति (√tṝ, “to cross”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /a.va.taʁ/
Audio (file) - Homophone: avatars
- Hyphenation: a‧va‧tar
Further reading
- “avatar” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).
Portuguese
Serbo-Croatian
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /aʋǎtaːr/
- Hyphenation: a‧va‧tar