Oaths and Testifying (fwd)
MichaelP
Someone passed this on to me; it caused me to look in dictionaries and on
the web;
HW sends a post which sez;
<There has been a lot in the news lately about testifying and lying under
oath.
The words such as testify, attest, testimony and others, are derived from
the Latin, testis, which means witness. In the biblical days, when a man
testified, he placed his hand on his testicles. If it was later found that
he testified falsely, they cut them off. It was probably a lot more
effective than placing one's hand on the Bible.>
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 Edition
says
<Testicle (?), n. [L. testiculus, dim. of testis a testicle, probably
the same word as testis a witness, as being a witness to manhood.>
But under search the ultimate cyber-repository of etymological info. --
the web gives the following - with biblical texts included !! at URL:
http://www.peg.apc.org/~toconnor/wwwboard/messages/2042.html
<<Re: origin of the word testify
Posted by Dick McQ on August 31, 1998 at 09:13:11:
In Reply to: origin of the word testify posted by donna gillespie
on August 30, 1998 at 13:24:13:
<My friend and I, two law students, have a bet about the origin of
the word testify. She claims that the word originated in anciet Rome where
while men gave witness, in a legal matter, they would place their hands on
their testicles. Anyone out there who can confirm or deny. Thanks.>
<Eric Partridge says, in ORIGINS, that testify comes from the
Latin, testis, a witness. He goes on to say, "2. Latin testis, a witness,
has the derivative sense 'testicle', dopted by Scientific English, with
plural, testes: a witness to virility." The operative word in the quote is
derivative.
<Your friend may be thinking of Genesis 24 at verse 2 and again at
9, and elsewhere in that book. Abraham in verse 2 asks his oldest servant
to put his hand "under my thigh" and swear not to do certain things
<According to Naomi Rosenblatt in her book, Wrestling with Angels,
that asking to have a hand under my thigh was a "nice" way of saying hold
my testicles and swear. Putting one's manhood in the hands of another was
the ultimate expression of trust, but also of obligation on the part of
the holder.
The biblical implication of course is that only males can enter into
obligations by swearing.
Cheers
MichaelP