Oscar
nounEtymology
Exact origin uncertain. Resuscitated by James Mcpherson in The Works of Ossian (1765). Napoleon, an admirer of the Ossianic poems, chose it for his godson Oscar Bernadotte, who became a king of Sweden. The modern given name is a conflation of two unrelated names: first, Middle Irish Oscar (the name of Fionn Mac Cumhaill's grandson in Irish mythology), from Middle Irish os (“deer”) + cara (“friend”); and second, Old English Ōscār, Ōsgār (personal name, literally “spear of the gods/spear of God”), from Old English ōs (“god”) and gār (“spear”) (see Oswald). Compare German Ansgar (personal name), Danish Asker, Asger (personal name), Norwegian Asgeir (personal name), Icelandic Ásgeir (personal name). (Academy Award): Disputed. Said to have been named by actress Bette Davis after her first husband, Harmon Oscar Nelson, or by secretary Margaret Herrick after her cousin Oscar Pierce.
Informal An Academy Award.
- Primarily seen as a publicity vehicle for late-year releases, the awards show and its promoters have lately made pretensions to Oscar oracling: Jamie Foxx won the “breakthrough actor of the year” prize for “Ray” in 2004, after all, and Paul Haggis and his ensemble cast were honored for “Crash” four months before it won best picture.2006 October 18, David M. Halbfinger, “Hollywood Film Chain’s Latest Link”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 21 Jun 2025:
- The gulf between cinephiles and the public has grown wide. There are pictures that make a lot of money, but seldom win big Oscars or attract young people to the show2016 March 3, David Thomson, “Biggest lesson of the 2016 Oscars? The Academy should be scrapped”, in The Guardian:
A statuette awarded by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
- Derived terms
- legacy Oscar, Oscar bait, Oscared, Oscarless, Oscarlike, Oscarworthy