Calling a magician a “prestidigitator” is not unusual — in fact, depending on the stage persona of the magician in question, “prestidigitator” might even be part of their act. It means “quick fingers,” as in “the hand is quicker than the eye,” and it comes from French, where it was the nearly-identical “prestidigitateur.” In fact, I bet you didn’t even see it change!
Supposedly the French version was coined in 1823 by M. G. Ferizer, who performed magic tricks and came up with it to describe his own act in the most flowery language possible. As it happens, though, M. Ferizer was (we hope) a better magician than etymologist, because there was already a Latin word, “praestigiator,” that meant a trickster or juggler.
That original Latin word had already been used in Middle French as “prestigiateur” to mean “conjurer.” Not only that, there had been an English version, “prestigiator,” since the 1500s: “The falshood and vanities of these prestigiators, Saint Augustine..confuteth and proueth them..blasphemers and verie Athaists” (1595).
“Prestigiator” was in use in England through the 1800s, and even appeared in 2002 in the Independent newspaper: “She worked the crowd like an auburn prestigiator, keeping 100 conversational plates spinning.” But for the most part, “prestigiator” has lost out to the similar but more profoundly polysyllabic “prestidigitator” and “prestidigitation.” My guess is it’s because “prestidigitator” is more fun to say and takes just a bit more time. This is useful when if you’re trying to distract the attention of the audience from what your nimble fingers are actually up to.
