praestigiosus

Forms

praestīgiōsus (feminine praestīgiōsa, neuter praestīgiōsum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin praestīgiae (“tricks, illusions”) + -ōsus.^[2][1][3] The TLL derives it from the older form ⟨praestrigiae⟩, though the manuscripts have only ⟨-stig-⟩.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Aulus Gellius, meaning “full of trickery, deceptive”.^[2][3][5]

Semantic evolution

Arnobius uses it in nihil praestigiosum aut subdolum, “nothing deceptive or crafty”.^[6] In medieval British Latin it was used of people who performed conjuring tricks or practised magic, as a noun for a magician, of magic itself, and still of anything deceptive.^[7] Erasmus still uses it for “deceptive”.^[8]

English prestigious, from the 1540s, first meant “practising illusion, deceptive”.^[9] The Italian word prestigioso comes from the postclassical Latin word.^[10]

Timeline

• c. 165 AD – Aulus Gellius uses it for “deceptive”.^[2][5]
• 297–310 AD – Arnobius pairs it with subdolus, crafty.^[6][5]
• 1540s – English borrows it as prestigious, “deceptive”.^[9]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Full of trickery, deceptive.^[2][6]
2. (Medieval Latin) Performing conjuring tricks, practising magic; as a noun, a magician.^[7]
3. (Medieval Latin) Magical.^[7]

Related words

• praestigium
• English prestigious

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
8. ^ Ramminger, Johann, Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700, www.neulatein.de
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier