testator

English

Alternative forms

• testatour (obsolete)

Etymology

From Latin testator (“one who makes a will, in Late Latin also one who bears witness”), from testari (“to bear witness, make a will”). See testament.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (General American) /ˈtɛˌsteɪ.tɚ/, /tɛsˈteɪ.tɚ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪtə(ɹ)

Noun

testator (plural testators)

1. (law) One who makes or has made a legally valid will.

   Synonyms: devisor, (uncommon) legator, testamentor

   • 1881, Oliver Wendell Holmes, The Common Law‎^[1]:

     […] there is an exception “in the cases of heir and executor, who may plead a release to the ancestor or testator whom they respectively represent; so also with respect to several tortfeasors, for in all these cases there is a privity between the parties which constitutes an identity of person”.

   • 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:

     As it is, knowing that the testator was a gentleman of the highest intelligence and acumen, and that he has absolutely no relations living to whom he could have confided the guardianship of the child, we do not feel justified in taking this course.

Antonyms

• intestate (noun)

Derived terms

• testatorship

Related terms

• testament
• testatrix
• testify
• testimonial
• testimony

Translations

One who makes or has made a legally valid will

• Catalan: testador (ca) m, testadora (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 遺囑人 / 遗嘱人 (yízhǔrén)

• Czech: zůstavitel m
• Dutch: erflater (nl) m
• Esperanto: testamentanto
• Finnish: testamenttaaja (fi), perittävä
• French: testateur (fr) m, testatrice (fr) f
• German: Erblasser (de) m, Erblasserin (de) f
• Greek: διαθέτης (el) m (diathétis)
• Ido: testamentanto (io), testamentinto
• Irish: tiomnóir m
• Italian: testatore (it) m
• Japanese: 遺言者 (yuigonsha)
• Latin: lēgātor (la), testātor
• Manx: çhymneyder m
• Māori: kaitukuwira
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: arvelater m, testator m

• Polish: testator (pl) m, spadkodawca (pl) m, spadkodawczyni f
• Russian: завеща́тель (ru) m (zaveščátelʹ), завеща́тельница (ru) f (zaveščátelʹnica), наследода́тель (ru) m (nasledodátelʹ), наследода́тельница (ru) f (nasledodátelʹnica)
• Spanish: testador (es) m, testadora f
• Swedish: testator (sv)
• Ukrainian: запові́да́ч m (zapovídáč), запові́да́чка f (zapovídáčka), спадкода́вець m (spadkodávecʹ), спадкода́виця f (spadkodávycja)
• Welsh: ewyllysiwr m

See also

• executor

Further reading

• “testator”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin Eli Smith, editors (1895–1910), “testator”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

Anagrams

• attestor

Latin

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *tri-

Proto-Indo-European *steh₂-

Proto-Indo-European *trito-sth₂-o-s

Proto-Italic *tristos

Latin *terstis

Latin testis

Proto-Indo-European *-h₂

Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂

Proto-Indo-European *-yéti

Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti

Proto-Indo-European *-h₂tiinflu.

Proto-Italic *-ājō

Proto-Italic *-āō

Latin -o

Latin testor

Proto-Indo-European *-tōr

Proto-Italic *-tōr

Latin -tor

Latin testātor

From testor (“to be witness, testify, attest; to make a will”) + -tor.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [tɛsˈtaː.tɔr]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [tesˈtaː.tor]

Noun

testātor m (genitive testātōris, feminine testātrīx); third declension

1. testator
2. witness

Declension

Third-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	testātor	testātōrēs
genitive	testātōris	testātōrum
dative	testātōrī	testātōribus
accusative	testātōrem	testātōrēs
ablative	testātōre	testātōribus
vocative	testātor	testātōrēs

Descendants

• Catalan: testador
• Italian: testatore
• Portuguese: testador
• Spanish: testador

Verb

testātor

1. second/third-person singular future active imperative of testor

References

• “testator”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• "testator", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• “testator”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

Polish

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *tri-

Proto-Indo-European *steh₂-

Proto-Indo-European *trito-sth₂-o-s

Proto-Italic *tristos

Latin *terstis

Latin testis

Proto-Indo-European *-h₂

Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂

Proto-Indo-European *-yéti

Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti

Proto-Indo-European *-h₂tiinflu.

Proto-Italic *-ājō

Proto-Italic *-āō

Latin -o

Latin testor

Proto-Indo-European *-tōr

Proto-Italic *-tōr

Latin -tor

Latin testātorlbor.

Polish testator

Learned borrowing from Latin testātor.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tɛsˈta.tɔr/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -atɔr
• Syllabification: tes‧ta‧tor

Noun

testator m pers (female equivalent testatorka)

1. testator, legator, devisor

   Synonym: spadkodawca

Declension

Declension of testator

	singular	plural
nominative	testator	testatorzy/testatory (deprecative)
genitive	testatora	testatorów
dative	testatorowi	testatorom
accusative	testatora	testatorów
instrumental	testatorem	testatorami
locative	testatorze	testatorach
vocative	testatorze	testatorzy

Further reading

• “testator”, in Polish dictionaries at PWN‎^[2] (in Polish)

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French testateur, from Latin testator.

Noun

testator m (plural testatori)

1. testator

Declension

	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	testator	testatorul	testatori	testatorii
genitive-dative	testator	testatorului	testatori	testatorilor
vocative	testatorule		testatorilor