test

test¹ shell, hard covering; cupel

Pronunciation

• /tɛst/^[1]

Forms

test m (plural tests)^[1]

Etymology

The word for the hard shell is inherited from Old French test, inherited from Latin testum (“earthenware lid, earthen pot”), a variant of testū,^{[2][3][1][4][5]} and has the same origin as têt, its doublet.^[6][1] Wiktionary ascribes the spelling with ⟨s⟩ to semi-learned influence.^[1] The Grand Robert and the Petit Robert instead derive the zoological word from Latin testa (“hard shell”), the source of tête.^[7][8] From “pot” the Latin word passed to the senses “potsherd, skull, shell”.^[6][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in 1200–1220, in the Pseudo-Turpin chronicle, for the woody shell of an almond.^[6][8]

Semantic evolution

In Rey's account test and têt are one word, first recorded about 1120 for a piece of broken pottery, a sense later taken over by its derivative tesson.^[2] It lived on in technical uses: an earthen pot, and in particular the pot used in cupellation (1762).^[2][6] In hunting it named the skull of the stag, and Gautier still used test for “skull” as a literary archaism; the spread of the anglicism test made this use awkward.^[2]

The shell sense was used by R. Estienne in 1538 for the hard covering of some animals and sea creatures, written tais, and the spelling test is in Nicot (1606); in zoology it is the hard outer covering of many invertebrates.^[6][3]

Timeline

• 1200–1220 – It names the shell of an almond in the Pseudo-Turpin.^[6]
• 1283 – The derivative tesson is recorded.^[2][9]
• 1538 – R. Estienne uses tais for the shell of some animals.^[6][3]
• 1594 – G. Bouchet writes of le test de l'œuf.^[6]
• 1606 – Nicot spells it test.^[3]
• 1671 – The form têt appears.^[2]
• 1762 – The Académie records têt for the cupel.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. (zoology) The hard outer covering, shell or carapace of some invertebrates, such as sea urchins, molluscs, crustaceans and diatoms.^[6][8][4]
2. (chemistry, metallurgy) A cupel, the earthen vessel in which precious metals are refined and assayed, also spelled têt.^[1][10][7]
3. (hunting, archaic) The skull of a stag.^[2]

test² trial, examination

Etymology tree of test²

inherited borrowed derived

English test

French test

Italian test

From the same root · test²

English tester ← test

Pronunciation

• /tɛst/^[1]

Forms

test m (plural tests)^[1]

Etymology

The word for a trial is borrowed from English test,^{[6][2][8][9][11]} short for mental test, first used in the United States in 1890 by James McKeen Cattell.^[2][8] The English word goes back to the Old French test “pot” (homograph 1), taken into Middle English in the 14th century for the metallurgist's cupel in which precious metals were assayed;^[6][2][12] from this it came to mean what tests the quality or purity of something (1594) and then a trial or examination.^[6][12] Littré instead derived the English word from Latin testis (“witness”).^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

In 1686 Dangeau's Journal already used le test for the English Test oath of 1673.^[6] The modern sense is first recorded in 1893, in the Revue philosophique, for a measured trial of aptitudes in the work of the psychologist A. Binet.^[6][2]

Semantic evolution

Before the psychological sense, French had taken the word in test-objet (1844), a microscope slide used to judge the power of a microscope.^[6][2] From psychology the word passed to medicine (1923) and then into general use for any experiment or deciding fact (1939), also in apposition (1967).^[2][3] The Quemada datings find the general sense of a trial as early as 1908, in Sorel.^[13] A further borrowing (1964) named a production test in oil drilling.^[2] The verb tester was adapted from English in 1926.^[2]

Timeline

• 1686 – Dangeau uses test for the English Test oath.^[6]
• 1844 – Test-objet appears in microscopy.^[6][2]
• 1893 – First record of the psychological sense, in the Revue philosophique.^[6][2]
• 1894 – Séance test is used for a trial meant to check something.^[6]
• 1923 – Larousse records the medical use.^[3][2]
• 1926 – The verb tester is adapted from English.^[2]
• 1939 – It is used generally for a decisive experiment.^[2][13]
• 1964 – It names a production test in oil drilling.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (psychology) A standard test for assessing a person's aptitudes, knowledge or personality: Les candidats ont passé un test de logique.^{[8][14][4][6]}
2. (medicine, biology) A biological or chemical check: test de grossesse, test génétique.^[14]
3. A trial of a product or device to check how it works.^[4][8]
4. Any experiment or circumstance that allows something to be judged, a decisive trial.^[14][4][6]
5. In apposition, of something that serves as a reference or trial: élection-test.^[14][4][6]
6. (history) The Test oath imposed in England from 1673.^[6]

Word family

• tester
• testeur
• testage
• testable