testatus

Forms

testātus (feminine testāta, neuter testātum, comparative testātior); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

Used as an adjective, it is the participle from Latin testor (“to call to witness, bear witness”).^[1][2] De Vaan thinks the verb was derived directly from testis (“witness”), which he reconstructs as Proto-Italic *tri-sto/i-, with the generally accepted original meaning “third standing by”, from Proto-Indo-European *trito-sth2-o-.^[3] He compares Oscan trstus (“witnesses”) and Old Irish triss (“third”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler records it first in Cicero,^[4] who in the Verrines wants a matter to be as clear and as well attested as possible (quam maxime clara et testata).^[1]

Semantic evolution

Its classical sense is known on good evidence, well attested: Cicero uses it several times, Hirtius of making the punishment of wrongdoers better known, and Nepos, Ovid and Valerius Maximus also have it.^[1][5] Augustine uses the superlative testatissimus of wonders that were fully attested.^[5] In the jurists, as the counterpart of intestātus, it describes a person who has left a valid will, as in Ulpian.^[1] Niermeyer gives a medieval sense relating to a gift made on account of death.^[6]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a matter that is well attested.^[1][4]
• c. 50 BC – Hirtius uses the comparative of a punishment made better known.^[1][4]
• before 223 AD – Ulpian uses it of a person who has made a valid will.^[1][4]
• 354–430 AD – Augustine uses the superlative of attested wonders.^[5][4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Known on good evidence, well attested, evident.^[1][5]
2. (law) Of a person, having left a valid will.^[1]
3. (Medieval Latin) Relating to a gift made on account of death.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill