English
Tester
Tester comes from Old French testard ‘someone with a big head’, and goes back to Latin testa ‘a piece of burned clay, brick, tile’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtesta‘a piece of burned clay, brick, tile’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400teste‘head’
- Old French, derivedc. 842–1400testard‘someone with a big head’
- Englishearliest quotation 2007Tester
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtesta‘a piece of burned clay, brick, tile’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400teste‘head’
- Old French, derivedc. 842–1400testard‘someone with a big head’
- Englishearliest quotation 2007Tester
Earliest quotation: 2007, Deirdre Mcnamer, They Came From Montana: “But only if one forgets that Mr. Tester is…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *ters- ‘dry’
territory, inter, territorial, terrain, terrace, thirst, terra, terrestrial, terrier, fossa, fosse, terroir, terrine, 41 more
through Latin torreō ‘to burn, parch’
toast, torrent, torrid, 20 more
through Latin testa ‘a piece of burned clay, brick, tile’
through Old French teste ‘head’
Today it means
name A surname from Old French.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin testa / Tester