quword 趣词
Word Origins Dictionary
- testament



[testament 词源字典] - testament: [13] Testament is one of a range of English words that go back to Latin testis ‘witness’. This was derived from a prehistoric Indo-European base *tris- ‘three’, and so denoted etymologically a ‘third person’, who was not party to an agreement and thus could be a disinterested witness to it. Other English members of the testis family include testicle [15] (which etymologically ‘bears witness’ to a man’s virility), testify [14], testimony [14], and the prefixed forms attest [16], contest, detest, intestate [14], and protest.
The use of testament for ‘will’ was inspired by the notion of a ‘witnessed’ document. Its application to the two parts of the Bible arose from a mistranslation of Greek diathékē, which meant both ‘covenant’ and ‘will, testament’. It was used for the ‘covenant’ between God and human beings, but Latin translators rendered it as if it were being used for ‘will’ rather than ‘covenant’.
=> attest, contest, detest, intestate, protest, testicle, testify, testimony, three[testament etymology, testament origin, 英语词源] - eye-witness (n.)




- also eyewitness, 1530s, from eye (n.) + witness (n.). As a verb from 1844. Related: Eyewitnessed; eyewitnessing.
- mensa (n.)




- "altar top," 1848, Latin, literally "table," also "meal, supper," and "altar, sacrificial table," hence used in Church Latin for "upper slab of a church altar" (see mesa). With a capital M-, the name of an organization for people of IQs of 148 or more founded in England in 1946, the name chosen, according to the organization, to suggest a "round table" type group. The constellation was originally Mons Mensae "Table Mountain."
La Caille, who did so much for our knowledge of the southern heavens, formed the figure from stars under the Greater Cloud, between the poles of the equator and the ecliptic, just north of the polar Octans; the title being suggested by the fact that the Table Mountain, back of Cape Town, "which had witnessed his nightly vigils and daily toils," also was frequently capped by a cloud. [Richard Hinckley Allen, "Star Names and Their Meanings," London: 1899]
- witness (v.)




- c. 1300, "bear testimony," from witness (n.). Meaning "affix one's signature to (a document) to establish its identity" is from early 14c. Meaning "see or know by personal presence, observe" is from 1580s. Related: Witnessed; witnessing.