Etymologically
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testamentarius

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Forms

testāmentārius (feminine testāmentāria, neuter testāmentārium); first/second-declension adjective; as a noun, testāmentārius m (genitive testāmentāriī); second declension[1][2]

Etymology

It is from Latin testāmentum (“will”) + -ārius.[1][2] Köbler traces it further to testis (“witness”).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Cicero,[3] who names the Cornelian law on wills (lēx Cornēlia testāmentāria) in the Verrines,[2][4][5] and uses the noun of a forger of wills in his list of a poisoner, a will-forger and an assassin (cum venēficō, cum testāmentāriō, cum sīcāriō).[1][2]

Semantic evolution

Pliny the Elder speaks of adoption by will,[2][4] and the jurists of inheritances under a will.[2][4] In the Digest and in inscriptions the noun is the man employed to draw up wills,[1][4] sometimes with a suggestion of forgery and similar malpractice.[1]

In medieval Latin the noun also meant the executor of a will,[6][7] the adjective could mean serving as documentary evidence,[6] and a neuter testāmentārium was a treatise on wills.[7] It survives in Italian testamentario.[5]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses the adjective of a law on wills and the noun of a forger.[2][1][3]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder speaks of adoption by will.[2][4][3]
  • before 223 AD – Ulpian uses the noun of one who draws up a will.[1][4][3]
  • 1188 – Peter of Blois uses it of a testamentary dispenser of goods.[7]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Of or relating to a will, testamentary; appointed or created by a will.[1][2][4]
  2. (Medieval Latin) Serving as documentary evidence.[6]

Noun

  1. One employed to draw up wills.[1][4]
  2. A forger of wills.[2][4][5]
  3. (Medieval Latin) An executor of a will.[6][7]
  4. (Medieval Latin, neuter) A treatise on wills.[7]

Usage notes

Georges distinguishes the testāmentārius, who made up and substituted false wills, from the falsārius, who falsified them.[4]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  5. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  6. ^ a b c d Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  7. ^ a b c d e Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press