Word of the Week: Thaumaturgy

Thaumaturgy: The practice of magic. Originally "miracle working," from Greek thauma- (miracle) and -ourgos (working).

I discovered "thaumaturgy"--undefined but clear in context--in Alex Stone's "The Magic Olympics: With Tricks Explained!" in the July Harper's, a long essay about the author's attempt to win the 23rd World Championships of Magic. (Access restricted to subscribers.) Among the thaumaturgic devices Stone divulges is the topit, "a secret pocket sewn into the lining of a coat, an old pickpocket's tool (the 'poacher's pouch') repurposed by mid-twentieth-century magicians." 

Here's a partial list of some famous moves in Stone's specialty, sleight-of-hand close-up magic:

Vernon lift

Hofzinser cull

Tenkai palm

Bobo switch

Ramsay subtlety

Green angle separation

A few years ago I had the honor of sitting across the table in a San Fernando Valley deli from Tony Giorgio, a master of close-up sleight-of-hand. (He's married to my high school Spanish teacher, who is the hippest gal I've ever known. Movie buffs may recognize Tony's name: he played Bruno Tattaglia in The Godfather.) Tony produced a deck of cards and began to put them through their paces. Ladies and gentleman, I am here to tell you that I was at no time more than eight inches away from Tony's fingers and I have absolutely no clue how he did the things he did. A thaumaturge of the first order.

Bonus link: a brief glossary of magic terms.

Comments

[Bill Brohaugh]

Presto change-o: Some interesting words with derivations from magic:

--Prestige, in the 1600s, was a trick, an illusion, particularly those of jugglers and conjurers. You can see the word prestige in a word for the magician's art--prestidigitation. These words have mutual origins through French from Latin, ultimately from a phrase meaning “blindfold the eyes.”

--Glamour, in its earliest sense in the 1700s, was magical enchantment, a spell.

--Charm originally meant “a spoken incantation or chant to call magics.”

--Fascinate, by the late 1500s and until the mid 1600s, meant “to bewitch or charm with magical spell.”

--Mascot comes from French mascotte, "sorceror's amulet or charm."

And with that, I saw this post in half and let David Copperfield make me disappear.

[The Modesto Kid]

One of my favorite passages from recent reading included this word. (The full passage is quoted at the link from my name) -- "This singular creator, whose name we forget, probably did not know about or did not have sufficient confidence in the thaumaturgic efficacy of blowing air into the nostrils..."

[Nancy Friedman]

@Bill and @The Modesto Kid: Thank you! "Fascinate" shows up in the world of fashion, too, but not necessarily in the way you might think. A "fascinator" is a feathered or beaded headpiece attached to the hair with a comb. See examples here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascinator
And here are some DIY kits:
http://tinyurl.com/5lch3x

[Tony Giorgio]

Thank you for your review of my delicatessen performance; I did not realize that it was thaumaturgic.