188: attest and detest Jun 14, 2015

Most often words that look similar and sound similar are related. The words 'attest' and 'detest' are similar in sound and appearance, and vaguely similar in meaning today, but were especially similar when created in Latin. The word 'attest' comes 'ad-' meaning ‘to’ and 'testari' meaning ‘to witness' (think 'testify'); and the word 'detest' derives from 'de-' meaning ‘down’ and 'testari', and both words ultimately come from the word 'testis' which means ‘a witness’ in Latin. The meaning of these words (with exception to testify) have changed very much from their once legal senses to the modern understanding.