Testament

The other day I learned something new that I had never in my life heard before, but now it makes complete sense. In my Nabokov class, MS brought up the word testament, and I apologize, but I do not remember the context. Dr Sexson asked the class if they knew the origin of the word or the literal meaning of it. I did not. The word testament, when broken down, makes the word testa, or testes. In fact, this word literally means a person placing their hands in between a persons thighs, as closely to the testacles as possible. This amused me, for I had no idea that this practice took place during a testament. When I googled the word testament, the dictionary and encyclopedia references did not allude to testicles, but instead a person's covenant with God.

Here is what the definition is:

Main Entry: tes·ta·ment

Pronunciation: \ˈtes-tə-mənt\

Function: noun

Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Late Latin & Latin; Late Latin testamentum covenant with God, holy scripture, from Latin, last will, from testari to be a witness, call to witness, make a will, from testis witness; akin to Latin tres three & to Latin stare to stand; from the witness's standing by as a third party in a litigation — more at three, stand

Date: 14th century

1 a archaic : a covenant between God and the human race b capitalized : either of two main divisions of the Bible
2 a : a tangible proof or tribute b : an expression of conviction : creed
3 a : an act by which a person determines the disposition of his or her property after death b : will

I also googled testicles and testiment together and found this Q and Q:

SWEARING ON ONE’S TESTICLES

[Q] From Ron Ferguson: I just saw this on the Net and wondered if it was true: was the word testify based on men in the Roman court swearing to the truth of a statement on their testicles?

[A] I’ve seen that, too. This would seem as good a moment as any to scotch the story. There really is a strong link between testicle and testify (as well as attest, intestate, testament, contest and other words) but those who swear by this belief have misunderstood the matter.

The Latin word for a witness was testis, which derives from an Indo-European word for the number three. That was because the Romans regarded a witness as what we would call a trusted third party, one who stands aside from the dispute and can tell it how it really was. The Romans did also use the word testis in a figurative way to mean testicle. The idea seems to have been that a testicle was a witness to a man’s virility. And that’s the whole story of the connection.

One reason for the confusion may be that swearing on the testicles is recorded in the Bible. The practice is mentioned in the Old Testament, though the King James’ version bowdlerised the reference in Genesis to “grasping the thigh”. But there seems to be no evidence that the Romans — a long way away and in another era — used a similar method. In any case, the Biblical reference implies that the person is swearing on the testicles of the king, not on their own.

Incidentally, testis sometimes appeared in the form testiculus, a diminutive form; this was converted into English at the end of the fourteenth century first as testicule and then as testicle. The Latin testis, with its plural testes, has continued in medical use to the present day.