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Origin and history of tester

tester(n.1)

1660s, "one who tests, puts to trial, or assays," 1660s, agent noun from test (v.). Earlier "a crucible" for trying metals by heating them (mid-15c.). Modern mechanical sense of "apparatus or instrument used in testing" is by 1877.

also from 1660s

tester(n.2)

"canopy over a four-post bed," mid-14c., from Old French tester and directly from Medieval Latin testura, testerium, from testera "head-stall" of the bridle of a horse, an extended use and form of Late Latin testa "skull," in Vulgar Latin "head" (see tete). Also sometimes in early use in reference to the headboard of a bed from which the canopy extends or the framework supporting it. The Modern French cognate is têtière "headstall, headboard."

From Medieval Latin testa as "head" also come tester in the obsolete senses of "piece of armor for the head" of a horse or man (late 14c., via Old French testiere). Tester as the name of a shilling-coin of Henry VIII (1540s) is also from that source. So called because the first English coin to bear a true portrait; French teston, Italian testone had been used by 15c. of coins bearing portraits. The English word later was colloquial for "sixpence."

also from mid-14c.

Entries linking to tester

test(v.)

c. 1600, "assay gold or silver" in a test; from test (n.) in the original sense. The figurative sense of "examine the correctness of" is by 1748, on the notion of "put to the proof." The meaning "administer a test" (of knowledge, intelligence, health, etc., to a person) is from 1939; the sense of "undergo a test" is from 1934. The meaning "carry out a test" is by 1961. To test the water figuratively is by 1888; early uses suggest the reference is to testing well-water for purity. Related: Tested; testing.

tete(n.)

1756 as a type of women's tall dressed hair or wig, 1756, from French tête, literally "head," Old French teste "head," from Latin testa, literally "piece of earthenware, tile, potsherd; earthen pot, pitcher, jug; shell of shellfish." In Watkins, etc., this is derived from PIE root *teks- "to weave," also "to fabricate." But de Vaan (2008) writes, "Derivation from the root *tek- 'to build' is unlikely for semantic reasons," and "The word testa is probably a loanword, as words for vessels often are."

The "head" sense arose in Vulgar Latin, perhaps as a humorous use of the "jug, pot" meaning, or via Late Latin use of testa as "skull," from testa (capitis) "shell (of the head)." Compare German Kopf "head" from the Proto-Germanic root of English cup (n.).

tizzy(n.)

"state of nervous excitement," 1922, American English colloquial, a word of uncertain origin, perhaps related to slang tizzy "sixpence piece" (1804), a corruption of tester, a name for the coin (see tester (n.2)). Short form tizz is attested by 1954.

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