Etymology Word of the Week – As some of you know, in addition to working in the Admissions Office, I also teach Latin at Saint Ignatius and am something of a "word nerd." Thus, each week, I’ll sneak a vocabulary word (sometimes derived from Latin, sometimes not) into the e-blast. Here then is this week’s edition of the Etymology Word of the Week.
Prestigious - “practicing magic or illusion; juggling; deluding, deceiving.” NB: in the last 100 years, a more positive sense of this word, as in “honored, esteemed, having a high reputation,” has become the popular definition. From the Latin noun praestigium meaning “illusion, trick'' which comes from the Latin verb praestringere meaning “blindfolded, dazzled“ (which itself is a combination of the Latin preposition prae meaning “before, in front of” and the Latin verb stringere meaning “to tie or bind”). (All information is from www.wikipedia.org, www.etymonline.com and/or www.dictionary.com)
RELATED WORDS/PHRASES – prestige, presto, prestidigitation (fancy word for magic or legerdemain, a.k.a. sleight of hand)
SAMPLE SENTENCE: “Being named Valedictorian (and thus getting to ‘say farewell’ to one’s classmates at the Baccalaureate Mass or ceremony) is quite a prestigious honor.”