But you wouldn’t clap yet. Because making something disappear isn’t enough; you have to bring it back. That’s why every magic trick has a third act, the hardest part, the part we call “The Prestige”.
Since I covered magic in last week’s vocabulary post, why not continue on that theme with a related word this week? The above excerpt may seem like an odd choice of example for the given definition of today’s Word of the Week, but I promise there is a connection. The Prestige, a 2006 mystery/thriller film about a dangerous rivalry between two magicians, takes its title from the original usage of the word, which was not so much about reputation as it was about illusion. So perhaps it does make sense that this archaic meaning morphed into the definition we know today; it is, after all, only our perceptions (and in some cases, delusions) of quality that give others their “prestige”!
“Prestige” is admiration and respect felt for something or someone based on a perception of their quality or achievements. The word arose in the mid 17th century in the sense “illusion” or “conjuring trick” and is originally a French noun, also meaning “illusion” or “enchantment”. This noun may stem from the Latin noun praestigium (“a delusion”, “an illusion”) or the verb praestringere (“to blind(fold)”, “to dazzle”).
As hinted above, the word “prestige” has undergone an interesting transformation. What started out as a word for magic tricks and illusions eventually underwent a transference of meaning through the sense “dazzling influence” or “glamour” to become the term for respect and admiration that we know today. The original definition has since become obsolete (read: appropriate for historical writing), while the modern definition seems to appear most often in the adjective form “prestigious”. It’s worth noting that despite their similarities in meaning and phonetics, “prestige” actually has a different root than “prestidigitation”, though at least you could use the latter to remember the old definition for the former. If your characters are revered for their (supposed) merits or are simply masters of illusion, there may be room for plenty of “prestige” in your stories!
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I know what you’re probably thinking: I gave you quite the tongue-twister for today’s Word of the Week. Though it does seem more like a spelling bee challenge than an actual practical term, I admit that I love this word just for how ridiculously purple it sounds. I happen to love stage magic (who doesn’t, right?), and yet I still had to look this word up when I first read it, because for all the times I’ve heard about “magic tricks” and “sleight of hand”, I have yet to hear anyone call this field of entertainment “prestidigitation”!
“Prestidigitation” is a formal term for magic as a form of entertainment, especially performed with the hands. The word arose in the mid 19th century and is originally a French noun, also meaning “conjuring tricks” or “sleight of hand”. This noun stems from the French adjective preste “nimble” coupled with the Latin noun digitus “finger”.
Although it certainly sounds interesting, I assume the word “prestidigitation” would most commonly be used today in an ironic sense (or as an advanced word in the aforementioned spelling bees). In fact, the last time I even came across this word was a few years ago in the title of an episode of The Big Bang Theory, notably the same episode from which I learned the word “axiomatic“. Still, nothing should stop you from using it seriously if it fits the context of your writing. If you want to take it a step further, you can also use the noun “prestidigitator” in place of “magician”, and if you need a tip to help you remember these words’ connection with magic, just associate them with the exclamation “Presto!” If you ever write characters who are magicians, you can certainly have fun detailing the “prestidigitation” in your stories!
Bonus: for those of you who’d prefer a visual example of “prestidigitation”, please enjoy this adorable and hilarious short film by Pixar!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CB1Pukr0nFQ
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Like many other writers who seek to better understand the various devices used in fiction (and/or are total nerds who enjoy getting lost in an endless vortex of information now and then), I spend much of my time browsing TV Tropes. Recently, while researching a video game I had just finished, I came across a trope known as the Eldritch Abomination, defined as a type of creature that disregards the natural laws of the universe and usually manifests as some grotesque monstrosity. Given that the creature being referred to is probably one of the most horrific and ghastly things I’ve ever seen in a video game, I’d say “eldritch” is a pretty accurate description!
Anything described as “eldritch” is weird, sinister, or ghostly. The origin of the word is uncertain; it possibly consists of the Old English root el- (“foreign” or “strange”) and the noun rīce (“realm” or “kingdom”). Another possibility is that the word is a variant of the Scottish adjective elphrish and derives from the Old English noun aelf, meaning “elf”.
When I first read about the Eldritch Abomination on TV Tropes, I actually assumed that “eldritch” was a name. I had never seen this word being used to describe something before, so I thought the trope might have been named after some character in a creepy story that I would never read or watch because I’m not a fan of horror. Having learned what the word really means, I’d now consider using it in some poetic verse or suspenseful science fiction story to describe a creature so ominous or otherworldly as to be beyond comprehension. If you like to write about beings, objects, or ideas that are strange and sinister in nature, you may have fun spinning stories around your “eldritch” creations!
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How about learning a word from a Disney movie this week? In the above scene from Tangled, Rapunzel and Flynn have just evaded the guards in the Snuggly Duckling pub and are making their way through a secret tunnel to escape. On the way, Flynn decides to ask Rapunzel about her story, though he first builds up to his question by mentioning the questions he won’t ask, including anything to do with Pascal. When Rapunzel corrects his mistake, pointing out that Pascal is a chameleon and not a frog, Flynn dismisses it as insignificant. Pascal might disagree, of course; the difference between a frog and a chameleon is much more than a “nuance”!
A “nuance” is a subtle shade of or difference in a meaning, expression, or sound. The word arose in the late 18th century and is originally a French noun meaning “shade” or “subtlety”. This noun stems from the verb nuer “to shade”, which in turn comes from the Latin noun nubes, meaning “cloud”.
In the above example from Tangled, Flynn uses the word “nuance” as a sort of synonym for the expression “same difference”, hinting at the word’s connection with the concept of subtlety. I’ve probably read the word most often in poetic contexts, where it usually refers to the various shades of a given image or slight differences in meaning for certain ideas. Note that “nuance” can also be used as a verb to mean “give nuances to”. If you like to include subtle differences in your scenery, actions, or ideas, you may want to consider mentioning such “nuances” in your stories!
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So I was doing vocabulary research on Oxford Dictionaries‘ website last week when I noticed that one of the top five trending words in the world was “plagiarism”, and I laughed to myself because I knew exactly why. Anyone following American political news right now has almost definitely heard about a rather embarrassing incident that happened last Monday night involving a speech delivered at the Republican National Convention, which apparently contained several lines lifted from a speech delivered at the Democratic National Convention eight years ago. There’s a lot of controversy surrounding this incident at the time of writing this post, which is to be expected: no one would want to be accused of “plagiarism” in the middle of a political campaign!
“Plagiarism” is the act of stealing someone else’s work or ideas to pass off as one’s own. The word arose in the early 17th century and comes from the Latin noun plagiarius, meaning “kidnapper”. This noun stems from the noun plagium “kidnapping”, which likely derives from the Greek noun plagion, also meaning “a kidnapping”.
Truth be told, the word “plagiarism” has been sitting in my vocabulary list for quite a while. Being a writer and a biologist, I’ve long been familiar with this term; it’s a practice that artists and scientists alike are heavily discouraged from exercising, and that we’re advised to be on the lookout for when our work is widely circulated. Also noteworthy is the verb form of the word: to “plagiarize” is to “take (the work or an idea of someone else) and pass it off as one’s own”. If your characters tend to steal work from others to claim as their own, feel free to write about the “plagiarism” going on in your stories, as long as you don’t practice it yourself!
Fear not, the inspiration for today’s Word of the Week did not come from a personal crisis or anything of the sort. I actually came across the adjective form of this word while reading a character description from one of my favorite video games (the very mention of which would make this post a spoiler for said game). The character in question, according to speculation among players, was once quite dedicated to scientific work, but since becoming aware that he exists within a repeating timeline, gradually deteriorated into a lazy and skeptical shell of his former self. Believing that nothing he does matters as another reset of the timeline will undo it all, it’s easy to see how the poor guy has succumbed to such “nihilism”!
“Nihilism” is the rejection of all moral and religious principles, often resulting from the belief that life is meaningless. The word arose in the early 19th century as the German noun Nihilismus, a term coined/popularized by the German philosopher Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi. This noun stems from the Latin noun nihil, meaning “nothing”.
Aside from its primary meaning, “nihilism” also has a couple of sub-definitions in philosophy and history. Philosophically, it means “extreme skepticism maintaining that nothing in the world has a real existence”, while historically, “Nihilism” refers to “the doctrine of an extreme Russian revolutionary party c.1900, which found nothing to approve of in the established social order”. Also note the other forms of the word “nihilism”: the noun “nihilist” (“a person who believes that life is meaningless and rejects all religious and moral principles”) and the adjective “nihilistic” (“rejecting all religious and moral principles in the belief that life is meaningless”). Today, the word seems to be most commonly used as a synonym for “skepticism” and, in religious contexts, “atheism”. If you write characters who have completely given up on life and choose to abandon all principles, you may be touching on some “nihilism” in your stories!
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J.C. Wolfe is a fiction writer, biologist, and aspiring novelist of science fantasy and romance. A natural-born American and graduate in Marine Ecology from a university in Brazil, J.C. now writes for a living in California while spending free time blogging and penning stories and poetry.
J.C. Wolfe is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.
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