Oscar definition
Other Word Forms
Noun
Origin of oscar
- Perhaps from the name Oscar given to the fish as a pet or familiar name after New Latin ocellātus the fish's specific epithet from Latin ocellātus having little eyes (from the spot at the base of its tail) ocellated
From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
- Irish Osgar, from os (“deer") + cara (“friend") ; 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. It can also be explained by Old English ōs (“god") and gār (“spear") (see Oswald).
From Wiktionary