Word Stories: test

Steve Taylore-Knowles looks at the stories behind the English language.

Michael Reid of Volos is talking…well…testicles. And testimony. And testify. He asks: ‘Are they not related? Someone once told me that only those with testicles were allowed to testify in a court of law. Were they pulling my leg?’

Testicle is descended from the Latin testiculus, a diminutive of testis, which of course we have kept in English in the plural form testes. The same diminutive ending is found in article (from artus, ‘joint’) and uncle (from avunculus, ‘uncle’, from which we have kept the adjective avuncular), amongst others.

Testimony (personal evidence) is derived from testimonium, consisting of testis (witness) and -monium (a noun ending that we also see in matrimony). Testify comes from testificare (bear witness). From the same root word, testis, we also get attest, testament, intestate and contest.

So, clearly testimony and testify are closely related. The question is, is the testis of testicle the same word as the testis of testimony? As is so often the case in these matters, it depends on who you ask. There are two main ideas. The first is that they are indeed the same word and that the testes bear witness to masculinity. They might therefore bear witness to status as a full man, as opposed to a woman or a eunuch (from the Greek ευνούχος, derived from ευνή (bed) and έχειν (keep), meaning ‘bedchamber attendant’). However, the idea that men in court had to somehow swear by their testicles seems to be a myth. If only those with testicles were allowed to testify, it was probably a result of the fact that men kept the power to themselves, rather than anything to do with the etymology of the words.

The other possibility is that the testis of testicle is related to testa, a kind of earthen pot, applied to that part of the body because of its shape. A testa was used as a kind of crucible for assaying gold and silver – in other words, for ‘testing’ it. Hence the tool that teachers rely on so much for separating the gold from the lead: a test.

If there are any aspects of English words you've always wondered about, drop me a line at [email protected] and I'll see if I can come up with an answer.