Maven
From Free net encyclopedia
- For other uses of the word Maven see: Maven (disambiguation)
A maven (also mavin or mayvin) is an expert in a particular field, usually one who is self-appointed and who seeks to pass his knowledge on to others.
History
The word comes from the Yiddish meyvn and Hebrew mevin (מבֿין), with the same meaning, which in turn derives from the Hebrew binah, meaning understanding. It was first recorded in English around 1952, and popularised in the 1960s by a series of commercials for Vita Herring created by Martin Solow, featuring "The Beloved Herring Maven."
Since the 1980s it has become more common since William Safire adopted it to describe himself ("the language maven").
In network and social theory, a maven is someone who has a disproportionate influence on other members of the network. The role of mavens in propagating knowledge and preferences has been established in various domains, from politics to social trends.
Usage
Malcolm Gladwell used it in his book The Tipping Point (Little Brown, 2000) to describe those who are intense gatherers of information and so are the first to pick up new trends. The work of Safire and Gladwell has made the word particularly widely used in their particular contexts. The word is mainly confined to American English.
In The Tipping Point, Gladwell described a "maven trap" as a method of obtaining information from mavens. In the book he gave the example of the toll-free telephone number on the back of a bar of Ivory soap, where one could call with questions or comments about the product. Gladwell's opinion was that only those who were passionate or knowledgeable about soap would bother to call and that this was a method by which the company could easily and inexpensively glean valuable information about their market.
Some have identified the maven not just as a Jewish word, but as a Jewish concept. One site on Jewish language states, "A maven is an expert, and it's something that every Jew thinks he is on every subject that exists." [1] Jewish radio talk show host Barry Farber would often say, "I am the world's foremost expert on my own opinion". This highlights the fact that a maven being self-appointed, following his advice is an act of faith.
In the computerized version of the game Scrabble, the computer player is named Maven.