Nicrez
Ideal_Rock
- Joined
- Jan 21, 2004
- Messages
- 3,230
Interesting to know that the little icon you use to identify yourself, actually had a lexiconic meaning as follows:
(but what does yours say about you...? Like, Cassandra''s cute little girl avatar, or Leonid''s little guy on his avatar, Diamondlil''s eye avatar? )
(but what does yours say about you...? Like, Cassandra''s cute little girl avatar, or Leonid''s little guy on his avatar, Diamondlil''s eye avatar? )
avatar \AV-uh-tar\, noun:
1. The incarnation of a deity -- chiefly associated
in Hinduism with the incarnations of Vishnu.
2. An embodiment, as of a quality, concept, philosophy,
or tradition; an archetype.
3. A temporary manifestation or aspect of a continuing
entity.
Examples in usage:
In 1517, the year of their first contact, the Aztecs took
the Spaniards to be avatars of Quetzalcoatl, the plumed
serpent, god of learning and of wind.
--Paul Theroux, [1]Fresh Air Fiend
People . . . believe he was some sort of avatar of peace
and love, the ultimate hippie.
--Edna Gundersen, "For $60, a ticket to read," [2]USA
Today, October 5, 2000
It would seem that no definitive identification can be made
(Rimbaud the symbolist, the surrealist, the Bolshevik,
Rimbaud the bourgeois, the crook, the pervert, Rimbaud the
prophet, the superman, the mystic, Rimbaud the Catholic,
the cabalist, the atheist, etc.); the latest "proved"
avatar is forever recycled as evidence -- faulty or secure
-- on which to base the next.
--Richard Howard, "There Was Only One Rimbaud," [3]New York
Times, November 19, 2000
_________________________________________________________
Avatar is from Sanskrit avatara, "descent" (of a deity
from heaven), from avatarati, "he descends," from ava-, "down"
+ tarati, "he crosses, he passes over."