Testament

Etymology

From Latin "testamentum" (a will), from "testari" (to make a will, to bear witness), from "testis" (a witness) — the same root as "testimony." The Old and New "Testaments" use the same word in its other sense of a solemn covenant; the Bible sense translates Greek "diathēkē," covenant — so the two testaments are two covenants.

noun · /TES-tuh-muhnt/
A legal document declaring how a person wants their property distributed after death — the formal name behind the phrase “last will and testament.”
What it names
Why we say “will AND testament” — reach for it to understand the doubled phrase and the deeper sense of leaving something behind as a witnessed record.
Example
His testament left the vineyard to his daughter and a modest bequest to the town library.
Related idea
In “last will and testament,” the two are historically near-synonyms doubled for legal thoroughness — a common habit that also gave us cease and desist and aid and abet.
noun · /TES-tuh-muhnt/
Something that serves as clear proof or evidence of a quality.
What it names
the way an achievement testifies to the effort behind it.
Example
The bridge is a testament to its engineers.
Related idea
Like testimony, it bears witness — here, silently, through what it is.
noun (proper) · /TES-tuh-muhnt/
Either of the two main divisions of the Christian Bible, the Old and the New.
What it names
the covenant-scriptures of Judaism and Christianity.
Example
The parable appears in the New Testament.
Related idea
Each is a covenant between God and a people.