We explain what prestige is, the origin of the word and various examples. Also, other senses you may have.
What is prestige?
Prestige is understood, most of the time, the same as "good reputation", that is, a positive public evaluation, product of the fame, esteem or achievements of a person, a group of people, an organization and even a nation. These, therefore, are said to be prestigious or prestigious.
Prestige always has to do with a specific aspect or a specific theme: a prestigious writer is one who is publicly celebrated and applauded, that is, one whose good reputation precedes him; just as the selection of a country can have a lot of prestige within its specific sport, having won many competitions. Thus, what may be prestigious in one area may not be so in another.
The word prestige comes from the Latin praestigium, translatable as "trick" or "deceit", and with this sense it was initially used. For this reason, the word was often used as a synonym for “deception”, “trick” or “affectation”, and from there it came to denote pride, prosopopeia or arrogance, that is to say, that it appears to have what it lacks, or else what it possesses is exaggerated.
Later, the term was associated with the good arts of astronomers, priests or alchemists, and from there it would pass to the field of art and knowledge. Thus, its most common meaning today is positive, far from what it originally had, and equivalent to “reputation”, “respect” or “admiration”.
Some examples of sentences with this word are:
- To be invited to the congress, researchers must have sufficient prestige in their areas.
- Miguelito was accepted into a prestigious Uruguayan university.
- The immense prestige of the museum is due to its excellent curatorial work.
- The doctors of this hospital enjoy prestige
- What is the use of having a prestigious soccer team if we are not going to compete in the World Cups?
Other meanings of the word
According to the Royal Spanish Academy, there are two other uses of this word, which are precisely the most similar to its initial historical meaning, but which are very rare today:
- On the one hand, he names the fascination produced by Magic or some spell. For example: "The public seemed immune to the prestige of the magician."
- Similarly, it names a deception, an illusion or a mirage with which someone is deceived. For example: "I was a victim of the seller's prestige and I signed the contract."
This meaning of the word prestige is closely related to the term prestige or conjurer, which is the person who does tricks and games with the hands or fingers, in the same way as magicians who do tricks with cards and other objects.