alex, you might find this site 'enlightening':

http://church-of-the-east.org/spirituality/namaste.htm

briefly, namaste is a traditional hindu greeting meaning "i bow to the divine in you"

The Sanskrit 'Namas' is defined as "bow, obeisance, reverential salutation.", and is derived from the root Nam, which carries meanings of bending, bowing, humbly submitting and becoming silent. "Te" means "to you", therefore "namaste" means "I bow to you."

BTW, it is pronounced "namasthay"

(and i'm not taking credit for any of this; i was curious as well and googlized it. not quite a YCLIU, though, since it was arguably hard to find)

cheers =)