when in court and you would say i testify to something. where did the word testify come from ?

Answer 1

Here's the REAL story: It is derived from the word "testes". In ancient Roman society, a man would swear by his balls that he's telling the truth. In other words, "You can cut 'em off if I'm lying!"

Answer 2

Testify is origined in the word testis and its definition is as follows:

SYLLABICATION:tes•tis

NOUN:Inflected forms: pl. tes•tes (-t z)
1. The reproductive gland in a male vertebrate, the source of spermatozoa and the androgens, normally occurring paired in an external scrotum in humans and certain other mammals. 2. An analogous gland in an invertebrate animal, such as a hydra or a mollusk.
ETYMOLOGY:Latin, witness, testis.
WORD HISTORY:The resemblance between testimony, testify, testis, and testicle shows an etymological relationship, but linguists are not agreed on precisely how English testis came to have its current meaning. The Latin testis originally meant “witness,” and etymologically means “third (person) standing by”: the te– part comes from an older tri–, a combining form of the word for “three,” and –stis is a noun derived from the Indo-European root st - meaning “stand.” How this also came to refer to the body part(s) is disputed. An old theory has it that the Romans placed their right hands on their testicles and swore by them before giving testimony in court. Another theory says that the sense of testicle in Latin testis is due to a calque, or loan translation, from Greek. The Greek noun parastat s means “defender (in law), supporter” (para– “by, alongside,” as in paramilitary and –stat s from histanai, “to stand”). In the dual number, used in many languages for naturally occurring, contrasting, or complementary pairs such as hands, eyes, and ears, parastat s had the technical medical sense “testicles,” that is “two glands side by side.” The Romans simply took this sense of parastat s and added it to testis, the Latin word for legal supporter, witness.

Answer 3

testify
1377, "to serve as evidence of," from L. testificari "bear witness," from testis "witness" (see testament) + root of facere "to make" (see factitious). Biblical sense of "openly profess one's faith and devotion" is attested from 1526.

Answer 4

protest, testament, testify, testimonial.....
I smell a Latin root word there.