Last week Kalleh and I got together with Mr. and Mrs. Morgan, meeting about midway between us in the Detroit area.

As we toured the mansion of a 1930's automotive executive, the docent pointed a canopied bed that she called a tester bed. The term was new to us, and she admitted that she didn't know its origin. So naturally I checked, curious of how it related, if at all, to test as in taking a test.

It's an interesting story -- but I won't deprive us of the fun of finding out together. I'll pose it as two questions to my friends here.

• What's the etymology of "taking a test"?
• What's the etymology of "tester bed?"

Just for the record, Shufitz and I did not test the bed!

This is the bed in question.


In addition, I have added a new page to our community, where you can post pictures to link to for the board. The album is called "A Place for Posts". Feel free to use it as needed.

Wow, Morgan! I won't even ask how you did that because I know I couldn't. However, that is the bed!

quote:

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docent

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Now there's a word I thought only existed in true Germanic languages, though I see that it's only current in the US.

OED:

docent (________), a. and n.
[ad. L. docent-em, pr. pple. of docere to teach.]

A. adj. That teaches or instructs; teaching.

B. n. In some American universities and colleges, a recognized teacher or lecturer not on the salaried staff; usually a post-graduate student who is allowed to lecture in some special branch.
[Cf. Ger. privat-docent, private teacher, recognized by a university.]

quote:

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Originally posted by shufitz:
What's the etymology of "taking a test"?

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test (____), v.2
[f. test n.1
(Before 1800 chiefly in pa. pple.; the simple vb. was considered by Southey as an Americanism.)]
1. trans. To subject (gold or silver) to a process of separation and refining in a test or cupel; to assay.

2. To subject to a test of any kind; to try, put to the proof; to ascertain the existence, genuineness, or quality of. to test out, to put (a theory, etc.) to a practical test. Phrases: to test (something) to failure or destruction; to test the water (fig.: cf. quot. 1888).

b. To subject (a person) to a test of a particular kind.

_ 3. To require or compel to fulfil the conditions of the Test Act as a necessary qualification for holding a public office. Obs.

4. Chem. To subject to a chemical test.
1839 Ure Dict. Arts 71 (Assay) The testing of the normal liquor_is_less tedious than might be supposed.

5. intr.
a. To undergo a test. U.S.

b. With phrasal compl. To achieve a rating of (so much) as the result of a test. U.S.

6. absol. or intr. To apply or carry out a test.

Hence
_tested ppl. a. (in senses 1 and 2); in quot.

quote:

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What's the etymology of "_tester bed_?"

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OED states

[prob. from OF.: cf. testre fem. (15th c., one example in Godef.) the vertical part of a bed behind the head; also OF. testière, mod.F. têtière a covering for the head, etc., It. testiera, Sp. testera, med.L. testera, -eria (see tester2); also med.L. testerium, testrum, testura, also testale, all, according to Du Cange, = _the upper part, top, or upper covering of a bed', derivatives of L. testa, in late pop.L. and Comm. Romanic _head'.
The historical relations of these words are not quite clear, but app. med.L. testerium, -eria, It. testiera, Sp. testera, OF. testière, and ME. testere, go together in form, as do med.L. testrum, OF. and ME. testre, and perh. also med.L. testura and ME. testur; though the senses are specialized in different langs. The other Eng. forms appear to have been assimilated to various endings in -er, -ar, -or, -our, and (erratically) -ern, -orn.]


The meaning, therefore will be:

1. A canopy over a bed, supported on the posts of the bedstead or suspended from the ceiling; formerly (esp. in phrase tester and celure), the vertical part at the head of the bed which ascends to and sometimes supports the canopy, or (as some think) the wooden or metal framework supporting the canopy and curtains.

...then in this usage "test" is related to the French word "tête" (= "head"), and the circumflex accent ^ represents a letter s that has evolved out of the word!

Continuing on test = head, the Italian for headache is mal di testa.

AHD says tester means "a canopy, as over a bed or pulpit," and takes this back to late Latin testa, skull, from Latin, shell. So a tester bed would be one that has a skull over it. It looks to me that a tester-bed must have a wooden top, rather than a cloth canopy.

P.S. Here's the history of why the four-poster bed, and then the tester-bed with the top, were developed. This also mentions where the phrase sleep tight comes from.

Here's more about sleep tight