testament

pronunciation

How to pronounce testament in British English: UK [ˈtestəmənt] word uk audio image

How to pronounce testament in American English: US [ˈtɛstəmənt] word us audio image

Noun:

a profession of belief
a legal document declaring a person's wishes regarding the disposal of their property when they die
strong evidence for something

Word Origin

testament: testament: [13] Testament is one of a range of English words that go back to Latin testis ‘witness’. This was derived from a prehistoric Indo-European base *tris- ‘three’, and so denoted etymologically a ‘third person’, who was not party to an agreement and thus could be a disinterested witness to it. Other English members of the testis family include testicle [15] (which etymologically ‘bears witness’ to a man’s virility), testify [14], testimony [14], and the prefixed forms attest [16], contest, detest, intestate [14], and protest.The use of testament for ‘will’ was inspired by the notion of a ‘witnessed’ document. Its application to the two parts of the Bible arose from a mistranslation of Greek diathékē, which meant both ‘covenant’ and ‘will, testament’. It was used for the ‘covenant’ between God and human beings, but Latin translators rendered it as if it were being used for ‘will’ rather than ‘covenant’.=> attest, contest, detest, intestate, protest, testicle, testify, testimony, three

testament (n.): late 13c., "last will disposing of property," from Latin testamentum "a last will, publication of a will," from testari "make a will, be witness to," from testis "witness," from PIE *tri-st-i- "third person standing by," from root *tris- "three" (see three) on the notion of "third person, disinterested witness." Use in reference to the two divisions of the Bible (early 14c.) is from Late Latin vetus testamentum and novum testamentum, loan-translations of Greek palaia diatheke and kaine diatheke. Late Latin testamentum in this case was a confusion of the two meanings of Greek diatheke, which meant both "covenant, dispensation" and "will, testament," and was used in the former sense in the account of the Last Supper (see testimony) but subsequently was interpreted as Christ's "last will."

2. This economy could plainly use more of it ; millions of unemployed workers are a testament to that .

3. Some say that such an electoral transfer of power would be a useful testament to chile 's democratic maturity .

4. Mr wyatt said the sale was testament to the growth prospects of stratford in a short period of time .

5. Perelman 's achievement is a testament to the continued power of the individual human mind in bringing about the most fundamental advances in mathematics .