antestor

Forms

antestor (present infinitive antestārī, perfect active antestātus sum); first conjugation, deponent^[1]

Etymology

It is probably from Latin ante- (“before”) + testor (“to call to witness”), contracted,^[2][3] the call being made before the case was opened.^[4][3] Leumann, cited by de Vaan, explains it from *antitestor.^[5] Corssen, cited by L&S, saw instead the prefix an-, the Ancient Greek ἀνά (aná), as in anhēlō,^[4] and the TLL leaves open whether it comes from ante and testārī or from an- and testis (“witness”).^[6]

The noun testis goes back, according to de Vaan, to Proto-Italic *tri-sto/i- and Proto-Indo-European *trito-sth2-o- (“third standing (by)”), the witness being the third person present.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in the Twelve Tables, quoted by Porphyrio on Horace: si in ius vocat, ni it, antestamino, “if he summons someone to court and the man does not go, let him call witnesses”.^[6][3][5]

Semantic evolution

It was a word of legal procedure.^[4] The formula was licet antestari?, “may I call you as witness?”, and the person agreed by holding out the lobe of his ear for the summoner to touch.^[4][3] Plautus uses the question and its refusal in the Curculio, and Horace ends a satire with it: Licet antestari? Ego vero oppono auriculam, “May I call you as witness? I hold out my ear” (Satires 1.9.76).^[4] Pliny the Elder explains the custom: est in aure ima memoriae locus, quem tangentes antestamur, “there is a seat of memory in the lower ear, which we touch when calling a witness”.^[4]

Cicero uses it once outside the courts, in the Pro Milone, in the general sense of calling someone to witness.^[4][3] Livius Andronicus and Aelius are cited for a passive sense, “to be called as witness”,^[4][3] and the participle antestatus means a witness in Gaius and in inscriptions.^[4][3]

Timeline

• c. 450 BC – The Twelve Tables order the summoner to call witnesses (antestamino).^[6][3][7]
• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses the formula licet te antestari?^[4][7]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it once in a general sense.^[4][7]
• 65–8 BC – Horace ends a satire with Licet antestari?^[4][7]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder explains the touching of the ear.^[4][7]
• 140–180 AD – Gaius uses antestatus for a witness.^[4][7]

Meanings

Verb

1. (law) To call someone as a witness before a summons to court.^[4][3]
2. To call to witness, appeal to.^[2][4]
3. (passive) To be called as a witness.^[4][8]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.