# Lying Under oath leads to emasculation of testicles? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 2, 2001, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lying-under-oath-leads-to-emasculation-of-testicles/84907 "2001-10-02T04:15:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![muffinman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e8c25b/32.png) [@muffinman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muffinman)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lying-under-oath-leads-to-emasculation-of-testicles/84907/1 "2001-10-02T04:15:31Z")
Got you attention? Good. I’m on my school’s Brain Bowl team, and during practice today, I pointed out to our sponsor that every Greek of any importance has a name which resembles testicles (I pointed out that most of them are nuts too!) Anyhow, he said that the word Testicles and Testify are related, and went on to add: During Greek times, women were not allowed to testify in court, only men. Since the nads got the knife if the story was found to be false, the practice of bearing witness before the court came to be known as “testifying” Any truth to this, or is this just some wierd rambling from a strange little man? ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lying-under-oath-leads-to-emasculation-of-testicles/84907/2 "2001-10-02T04:21:46Z")
What Greek names resemble testicles and how? ---
**Author:** ![Arjuna34](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Arjuna34](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arjuna34)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lying-under-oath-leads-to-emasculation-of-testicles/84907/3 "2001-10-02T04:26:09Z")
Here’s one link on the relation between testicle and testify: [SWEARING ON ONE’S TESTICLES](http://www.quinion.com/words/qa/qa-swe1.htm) Arjuna34 ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Carpenter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cc9497/32.png) [@Mr\_Carpenter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Carpenter)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lying-under-oath-leads-to-emasculation-of-testicles/84907/4 "2001-10-02T04:33:59Z")
Awwww, and I just wanted to hear how they were removed! ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lying-under-oath-leads-to-emasculation-of-testicles/84907/5 "2001-10-02T04:50:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by friedo \* > \*\*What Greek names resemble testicles and how? \*\* I think he’s referring to the fact that many (though by no means all) famous male greek names end in ‘-cules’. It’s a common joke. One episode of Good vs Evil (funny show) had a wrestler named Testicules as the Foustian. (BTW, I’m wondering how a testicle can be immasculated - it’s not like they have testes of their own!) ---
**Author:** ![Chas.E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e99b99/32.png) [@Chas.E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chas.E)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lying-under-oath-leads-to-emasculation-of-testicles/84907/6 "2001-10-02T05:38:31Z")
Lying under oath makes Baby Jesus’ testicles shrivel. ---
**Author:** ![Neurodoc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/848f3c/32.png) [@Neurodoc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neurodoc)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lying-under-oath-leads-to-emasculation-of-testicles/84907/7 "2001-10-02T23:08:44Z")
First of all, the etymology is Latin, not Greek. It comes from the deponent verb, “testificor, -atus, -ari,” and derives from the practice of the witness before a tribunal clutching his testicles to assert truthfulness…as in “I swear by my ancestors and by my family jewels.” There have been reports that inquisitors have probed the testicles of witnesses during testimony…as a kind of lie detector test. The theory being that if you are lying, your testicles (via the cremasteric reflex) will retract… I do not recall which tribes practiced this art, but AI believe it was somewhere in the Pacific Islands. Although the testicular origin of testimony obviously limits the act to males, Classical literature contains examples of eloquent testimony by females. ---
**Author:** ![Earthling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/90db22/32.png) [@Earthling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthling)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lying-under-oath-leads-to-emasculation-of-testicles/84907/8 "2001-10-02T23:15:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by friedo \* > \*\*What Greek names resemble testicles and how? \*\* I’m guessing that the OP is thinking of name endings, of which Pericles and Sophocles spring readily to mind. Of course, they’re pronounced “…klees” rather than “…kuls” ---
**Author:** ![Arjuna34](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Arjuna34](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arjuna34)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lying-under-oath-leads-to-emasculation-of-testicles/84907/9 "2001-10-02T23:25:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Neurodoc \* > \*\* > It comes from the deponent verb, “testificor, -atus, -ari,” and derives from the practice of the witness before a tribunal clutching his testicles to assert truthfulness…as in “I swear by my ancestors and by my family jewels.” > \*\* **Neurodoc** , your explanation disagrees with the link I posted above, which states > [@](#): > > The Latin word for a witness was testis, which derives from an Indo-European word for the number three. That was because the Romans regarded a witness as what we would call a trusted third party, one who stands aside from the dispute and can tell it how it really was. The Romans did also use the word testis in a figurative way to mean testicle. The idea seems to have been that a testicle was a witness to a man’s virility. And that’s the whole story of the connection. Is that link wrong? Arjuna34 ---
**Author:** ![Neurodoc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/848f3c/32.png) [@Neurodoc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neurodoc)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2001, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lying-under-oath-leads-to-emasculation-of-testicles/84907/10 "2001-10-05T03:05:04Z")
**Neurodoc** , your explanation disagrees with the link I posted above, which states > [@](#): > > The Latin word for a witness was testis, which derives from an Indo-European word for the number three. That was because the Romans regarded a witness as what we would call a trusted third party, one who stands aside from the dispute and can tell it how it really was. The Romans did also use the word testis in a figurative way to mean testicle. The idea seems to have been that a testicle was a witness to a man’s virility. And that’s the whole story of the connection. Is that link wrong? Arjuna34 \*\* [/QUOTE] The “tris”[three] “tes” [testicle] etymology is interesting but probably wrong. Besides, a male witness has himsellf and two testicles (usually), which amounts to three… I think the etymology I suggested above is at least as compelling as the one you cited. Is the link wrong? I don’t know. But I think it is.