Testament - testimony

Testament and testimony are two words which some writers confuse. Do not be one of those writers. Both come from the same Latin root, the verb testor which means 'I witness'. However the two English words have diverged in their precise denotations.

• A testament is basically a Will - a written legal document in which a person says how she or he wants her or his property to be shared out after her or his death. It is fully known in British law as a Last Will and Testament.

There are associated adjectives: someone who has left a valid will is said to have died testate, while one who has died leaving no legal will is said to be intestate. The latter is rather more common, as a word.

• The meaning of 'a legal document' was first extended to mean an agreement between God and man, particularly in the Christian religion. It is more usual to call this a 'Covenant'. A further development was to its most common use in religion these days, to mean one of the two principal collections of books in the Christian Bible.
  • The Old Testament corresponds to the Jewish Bible. It refers to the first great Abrahamic faith, the religion in which Jesus grew up and was educated.
  • The New Testament is the collection of writings which record the beginning of the second Abrahamic faith, Christianity. All of these books were written after the death of Jesus, c.33 CE.
• Testimony (a non-count noun) whose basic meaning is 'evidence'. A witness gives testimony in a law-court. Other meanings of testimony exist, but are rare, and obsolete.

There is a related verb, to testify, meaning 'to give evidence' or 'to bear witness'.