英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

tessera (n.)[tessera 词源字典]: plural tesserae, "small, square piece of stone," 1650s, from Latin tessera "a die, cube, square tablet with writing on it" used as a token or ticket, from Ionic Greek tessera, neuter of tesseres (Attic tessares) "four" (see four).[tessera etymology, tessera origin, 英语词源]
tesseract (n.): "four-dimensional 'cube,'" 1888, from tessera + Greek aktis "ray" (see actino-).
test (n.): late 14c., "small vessel used in assaying precious metals," from Old French test, from Latin testum "earthen pot," related to testa "piece of burned clay, earthen pot, shell" (see tete).

Sense of "trial or examination to determine the correctness of something" is recorded from 1590s. The connecting notion is "ascertaining the quality of a metal by melting it in a pot." Test Act was the name given to various laws in English history meant to exclude Catholics and Nonconformists from office, especially that of 1673, repealed 1828. Test drive (v.) is first recorded 1954.
test (v.): 1748, "to examine the correctness of," from test (n.), on the notion of "put to the proof." Earlier "assay gold or silver" in a test (c. 1600). Meaning "to administer a test" is from 1939; sense of "undergo a test" is from 1934. Related: Tested; testing.
test-tube (n.): 1809, from test (n.) + tube (n.). So called because it originally was used to test the properties of liquids. Test-tube baby is recorded from 1935.
testament (n.): late 13c., "last will disposing of property," from Latin testamentum "a last will, publication of a will," from testari "make a will, be witness to," from testis "witness," from PIE *tri-st-i- "third person standing by," from root *tris- "three" (see three) on the notion of "third person, disinterested witness."

Use in reference to the two divisions of the Bible (early 14c.) is from Late Latin vetus testamentum and novum testamentum, loan-translations of Greek palaia diatheke and kaine diatheke. Late Latin testamentum in this case was a confusion of the two meanings of Greek diatheke, which meant both "covenant, dispensation" and "will, testament," and was used in the former sense in the account of the Last Supper (see testimony) but subsequently was interpreted as Christ's "last will."
testamentary (adj.): "pertaining to a will or wills," mid-15c., from Latin testamentarius, from testamentum (see testament).
testate (adj.): "having left a valid will," late 15c., from Latin testatus "public, manifest, published," past participle of testari "make a will, be witness to, declare" (see testament).
testator (n.): c. 1400, from Anglo-French testatour (c. 1300), from Late Latin testator "one who makes a will," from testari (see testate). Fem. form testatrix is attested from 1590s.
tester (n.1): "one who tests, puts to trial, or assays," 1660s, agent noun from test (v.). Earlier "a crucible" for trying metals by heating them (mid-15c.).
tester (n.2): "canopy over a four-post bed," mid-14c., from Medieval Latin testerium, from testera "head-stall" of the bridle of a horse, extended use and form of Late Latin testa "skull," in Vulgar Latin "head" (see tete). From Medieval Latin testa as "head" also come tester in obsolete senses of "piece of armor for the head" (late 14c., via Old French testiere) and "coin of Henry VIII" (1546), the first English coin to bear a true portrait.
testes (n.): see testis.
testicle (n.): early 15c., alteration of testicule (late 14c.), from Latin testiculus, diminutive of testis "testicle" (see testis). Old English had beallucas (see ballocks) and herþan, probably originally "leather bag" (compare heorþa "deer-skin"). The commonest slang terms for them in other languages are words that mean "balls," "stones," "nuts," "eggs."
testicular (adj.): 1650s, from Latin testiculus (see testicle) + -ar.
testify (v.): late 14c., "give legal testimony, affirm the truth of, bear witness to;" of things, c. 1400, "serve as evidence of," from Anglo-French testifier, from Latin testificari "bear witness, show, demonstrate," also "call to witness," from testis "a witness" (see testament) + root of facere "to make" (see factitious). Biblical sense of "openly profess one's faith and devotion" is attested from 1520s. Related: Testified; testifying; testification.
testimonial (adj.): early 15c., "of or pertaining to testimony," in part from testimonial (n.) and from Late Latin testimonialis, from Latin testimonium (see testimony). Originally especially in phrase letters testimonial (Middle French lettres testimoniaulx, Latin litteræ testimoniales) "document or documents attesting to a fact or to the good standing of the bearer," literally "letters serving for evidence."
testimonial (n.): "statement, declaration," also "writing testifying to one's qualification or character," early 15c. (from Old French testimonial, variant of tesmoignal), short for letters testimonial (see testimonial (adj.)). Meaning "gift presented as an expression of appreciation" is from 1838.
testimony (n.): c. 1400, "proof or demonstration of some fact, evidence, piece of evidence;" early 15c., "legal testimony, sworn statement of a witness," from Old North French testimonie (Old French testimoine 11c.), from Latin testimonium "evidence, proof, witness, attestation," from testis "a witness, one who attests" (see testament) + -monium, suffix signifying action, state, condition. Despite the common modern assertion, the sense of the word is unlikely to have anything to do with testicles (see testis).

Earliest attested sense in English is "the Ten Commandments" (late 14c.), from Vulgate use of Late Latin testimonium, along with Greek to martyrion (Septuagint), translations of Hebrew 'eduth "attestation, testimony" (of the Decalogue), from 'ed "witness."
testis (n.): (plural testes), 1704, from Latin testis "testicle," usually regarded as a special application of testis "witness" (see testament), presumably because it "bears witness to male virility" [Barnhart]. Stories that trace the use of the Latin word to some supposed swearing-in ceremony are modern and groundless.

Compare Greek parastatai "testicles," from parastates "one that stands by;" and French slang témoins, literally "witnesses." But Buck thinks Greek parastatai "testicles" has been wrongly associated with the legal sense of parastates "supporter, defender" and suggests instead parastatai in the sense of twin "supporting pillars, props of a mast," etc. Or it might be a euphemistic use of the word in the sense "comrades." OED, meanwhile, points to Walde's suggestion of a connection between testis and testa "pot, shell, etc." (see tete).
testosterone (n.): male sex hormone, 1935, from German Testosteron (1935), coined from a presumed comb. form of Latin testis "testicle" (see testis) + first syllable of sterol + chemical ending -one.