Etymologically
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testify

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 18 October 2026 at 03:53. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈtɛstɪfaɪ/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English testifien,[2][3] borrowed from Latin testificor (“to bear witness”) (late Latin testificāre),[4][5][6] from testis (“a witness”)[2][3][5] and -ficō (“-making”), from faciō (“to make, do”),[5][3][7] with Barnhart positing a lost adjective *testificus (“making a witness”).[5] Etymonline routes it through Anglo-Norman testifier.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

To bear witness, intransitively, in Piers Plowman (B text, 1377);[4][8] transitively, to affirm the truth of something, from 1393 in the C text.[4]

Semantic evolution

Of things, to serve as evidence of something, is recorded from 1445 (about 1400 in Etymonline).[4][3] Tyndale's Bible (1526) brought in the religious senses, to profess openly one's faith and to declare solemnly,[4][8] the second now obsolete except in biblical use;[4] A noun testify, a certificate, appears once in Scots in 1600.[4]

Timeline

  • 1377 – to bear witness.[4]
  • 1393 – to affirm the truth of.[4]
  • 1445 – of things, to serve as evidence.[4]
  • 1526 – to profess or declare solemnly, in Tyndale.[4]
  • 1785 – to bear testimony (intransitive, in Cowper).[4]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. To make a statement under oath as a witness, especially in court.
  2. To serve as evidence or proof of something.
  3. To declare one's belief publicly, especially one's religious faith.

Word family

  • testification
  • testifier
  • retestify
  • untestifying

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  6. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)