praestigium

Latin

Alternative forms

• prēstīgium (Medieval Latin)

Etymology

Two suppositions:

• praestinguō (“to obscure, extinguish”).
• praestringō (“to blind; to blindfold; to dazzle or confuse someone”)

Noun

praestīgium n (genitive praestīgiī or praestīgī); second declension

1. delusion, illusion
2. magic trick

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	praestīgium	praestīgia
Genitive	praestīgiī praestīgī1	praestīgiōrum
Dative	praestīgiō	praestīgiīs
Accusative	praestīgium	praestīgia
Ablative	praestīgiō	praestīgiīs
Vocative	praestīgium	praestīgia

¹Found in older Latin (until the Augustan Age).

Descendants

• → Catalan: prestigi
• → English: prestige
• → French: prestige
• → Galician: prestixio
• → Italian: prestigio
• → Portuguese: prestígio
• → Romanian: prestigiu
• → Spanish: prestigio

References

• “praestigium”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• praestigium in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• praestigium in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “stringō, -ere”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 591-592