Foxy
- 2016-09-16
But what is 100% certain is that you'll keep repeating your baseless etymology.
Based on what assumption? You'd be wise to remember that ASSUME makes an ASS out of U and ME !
'queynte' is also a good word to check out as far as etymology is concerned. You can see if it resembles 'bad'.
Knut Jannsen
- 2016-09-15
what no-one seems to be 100% certain of
Few things are 100% certain.
But what is 100% certain is that you'll keep repeating your baseless etymology.
If you want a real one, check out the probable origin of the English word "bad."
Most interesting, and downright peculiar!
Foxy
- 2016-09-15
I have no doubt that like linguists and grammarians, etymologists also love to argue.
There is little doubt that the words 'testis/testes' and 'testify' are linked.
'Testify' means 'to swear under oath' and/or 'to bear witness to', as we all know. However, what no-one seems to be 100% certain of is that in Ancient Rome, did 'to testify' mean 'to swear by your testicles'?
It was a long time ago now, but I do remember reading something somewhere that in Ancient Rome, if a man was found to be lying under oath then his testes were cut off as punishment.
Truth? Or amusing misconception? Unless Taffy wipes the dust off his time-traveling machine, I guess we can never be 100% certain.
Knut Jannsen
- 2016-09-15
Do a search on Wiki for the origin of 'testify' (as in court) and you may begin to share my enthusiasm, lol.
Sorry to dispel a favorite misconception, amusing as it may be:
testis (n.) Look up testis at Dictionary.com
(plural testes), 1704, from Latin testis "testicle," usually regarded as a special application of testis "witness" (see testament), presumably because it "bears witness to male virility" [Barnhart]. Stories that trace the use of the Latin word to some supposed swearing-in ceremony are modern and groundless.
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=testis&allowed_in_frame=0
Foxy
- 2016-09-14
It would be a sad world if we were all the same. Linguistics, per se, doesn't interest me in the slightest, yet etymology does. Not enough for me to study it - I guess it's more of a hobby than a vocational aspiration. My aforementioned colleague was not interested in etymology in the slightest, yet linguistics really 'floated his boat'!
Just to amuse the 'Amused' poster I should perhaps tell you that I took great delight in learning the Latin word for 'sword sheath/scabbard' as well as how and why it's used in modern English. Do a search on Wiki for the origin of 'testify' (as in court) and you may begin to share my enthusiasm, lol.
Of course it's not just these kinds of words that I find interesting. I'm currently compiling a list of directly interchangeable synonyms in English that require no alteration in sentence structure, verb conjugation or subject-verb agreement. For example 'folk/people'. It's surprising how few there actually are.