testament

Forms

testament n (plural testamente)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin testamentum (“will, testament”), borrowed in the 17th century according to Ciorănescu;^[2][3] Tiktin also gives Latin as the source.^[2][3] DEX 2009 names Latin and French testament, and MDN Latin, French and German Testament.^[4][5] MDA2 and the DLR add the Hungarian forms testamentum and testamentom, so the word came in by several routes at once.^[6][7]

The Latin noun is formed on testor (“to bear witness, to make a will”) with the suffix -mentum.^[8][1] The verb comes from testis (“witness”).^[9][10] Graur lists the word in the same Latin family as the Romanian neologisms atesta, contesta, detesta and protesta.^[11] The sense of the Bible's two parts comes from Church Latin, where the word rendered Ancient Greek διαθήκη (diathḗkē, “disposition, will; covenant”), the Septuagint's word for the covenant of God.^[10][12][1] The German word was borrowed from Latin in the 15th century and the French one in 1120.^[13][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1633.^[3] MDA2's first record is the preface of the New Testament of 1648.^[6] There the word names the scripture, and Tiktin notes the form testamănt in that print.^[3] In Dosoftei's lives of the saints it means a will: „Să-i ia trupul după moarte și cartea testamentului ce s-au făcut” “to take his body after his death, and the deed of the will that had been made”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Besides the will and the two Testaments of the Bible, the old language used the word for a law, a body of laws, a final decision, and a decree on church matters that the prince issued with the bishops.^[6][3] A chronicle has the prince say „Pe urmă strângându-se și arhiereii, vom face și testament cu mare blăstăm” “then, when the bishops had gathered as well, we shall make a decree with a great curse”.^[3] A document of 1757 speaks of the „testamenturile fericiților ... domni” “the decrees of the late princes”, with the old plural testamenturi.^[3] Ironically, the word also meant something certain, beyond doubt.^[6]

In the 19th century the legal sense was defined in detail: Costinescu distinguished the holograph will, written and signed by the testator's own hand, and the sealed will handed to an authority before witnesses.^[14] Regionally, the word names a game played at wakes, in which an old man is made to name the young men and girls to whom he leaves various objects that he cannot see.^[6] Modern dictionaries add a figurative sense, the late work of a writer or artist seen as the last expression of their views.^[5][15]

Timeline

• 1633 – the first record.^[3]
• 1648 – in the preface of the New Testament, MDA2's first record;^[6][3] testamănt for the scripture.^[6][3]
• 1688 – testamentului in the Bucharest Bible.^[16]
• 1757 – the plural testamenturile “decrees” in a document.^[3]
• 1814 – a petition asks for a special testament “decree”.^[3]
• 1870 – Costinescu defines the holograph and the sealed will.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. A will: a legal act, revocable during the testator's life, by which someone states what is to be done after their death, especially with their property;^[4][6] testament olograf “holograph will”, testament autentic “will drawn up by a public officer”.^[4][6]
2. Vechiul Testament the Old Testament and Noul Testament the New Testament, the two parts of the Bible.^[4][6]
3. (figurative) The late work of a writer or artist, seen as the last statement of their ideas.^[5][15]
4. (regional) A game played at a wake, in which an old man names the young people to whom he leaves objects he cannot see.^[6]
5. (obsolete) A law, a decree; especially a ruling on church matters issued by the prince with the bishops.^[6][3]

Word family

• testa
• testamentar
• testator

Related words

• atesta
• contesta
• detesta
• protesta
• Latin testamentum

Usage notes

The plural is testamente; the old language also had testamenturi.^[6][3] The old synonym for a will is diată.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Ciorănescu, Alexandru (1958–1966), Diccionario etimológico rumano, La Laguna: Universidad de La Laguna (Romanian ed.: Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române, București: Saeculum, 2001), p. s.v. testament
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. testament
4. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1122
5. ^ a b c Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 1209
7. ^ Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. testament
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter
10. ^ a b Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
11. ^ Graur, Alexandru (1980), Cuvinte înrudite, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. 101
12. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
13. ^ Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 914
14. ^ a b Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 613
15. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional
16. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Heb 12:24