Hello, I'm Lowell Flanders, the Collections Manager and Registrar here at the Mutter Museum.
Today, we will be looking at a little-known word origin that may surprise you.
Testicles. We all know what they are and what they do, but despite being partially responsible for
all of continued human existence, no one until now knew with any certainty how they came to
be called "testicles." Recent discoveries within our Library collection and newly uncovered classic
works have shed light on this mystery. We've all heard of the famous Greek warrior, Achilles, the
mostly-invincible hero of the Iliad. Achilles was the son of the sea nymph Thetis and King Peleus of
Phthia. For all his adventures in Troy, Achilles is perhaps most famous for his one vulnerability:
his heel. Achilles-- well, Achilles' heel stems from the logistics of how his mother gifted him
invulnerability. It was said that the waters of the river Styx could grant invincibility to anyone
lowered into them that survived exposure. Thetis lowered the baby Achilles into the river Styx,
immersing him fully in the waters except for the heel that her hand covered.
Despite being a sea nymph, Thetis evidently had a poor understanding of how water worked.
Thus, Achilles became the eponym for fatal weakness in someone or something otherwise
resilient or invincible. We can credit the Dutch anatomist Philip Verheyen with attributing
Achilles' name to the calcaneal tendon. This first appears in Verheyen's "Corporuis Humani Anatomia,"
published in 1693. The Iliad does not actually mention Achilles' invincibility, acute weakness,
or death. This was first described by Statius in his unfinished work, the Achilleid. I mentioned
the unfinished Achilleid because classicists have recently uncovered more of Statius' work,
revealing that later drafts included details of Achilles' ill-fated brother, Testichilles.
Testichilles is the lesser-known prince of Phthia for a reason. Like his brother,
Testichilles was granted protection by his mother, but again, she missed a spot.
Thetis' hand slipped from the baby's ankle and thanks to her incredible reflexes, she reached
for the child and, just as he slipped beneath the surface, gripped him firmly by the scrotum,
plucking him out of the waters. However, unlike his brother, Testichilles lacked martial prowess
and acquired little fame or notoriety. Despite early innovation in jockstrap and cup technology,
Testichilles died promptly upon arrival on the shores of Troy. A nameless Trojan soldier
dispatched Testichilles through a series of vicious kicks to his wedding vegetables. The
first known application of Testichilles' name to genitals appears in marginalia within Verheyen's
"Corporis Humaniti Anatomia," recently discovered within one of our four copies of the volume.
This means that, like Achilles' heel, the term "testicles" dates to at least 1693. This massive
breakthrough combined with the new drafts of the Achilleid leave us little doubt about the
etymology of the testicles. Often, Achilles' condition is referred to as "the curse of
Achilles," which seems a strange way to view nigh invulnerability. But in the case of Testichilles,
anyone that has testicles know how severe this vulnerability can be. And we all understand the
pain of Testichilles as his gentleman's area was utterly bludgeoned out of existence in battle.
Alright, guys, we all know that no one on the internet is ever confused by April Fools' jokes
and would never, ever post an angry and ignorantly-pedantic comment in which they
don't get the joke. But just in case, this was an April Fools' video and that is completely
not the etymology of the word "testicle." The truth is actually possibly more interesting if
somewhat speculative. All reasonable explanations credit the Roman legal principle of one witness
is no witness, "testis unus, testis nullus" as being where testicle comes from. Any testimony
in court was not admissible unless corroborated by a second witness. So thus witnesses always
came in pairs and were diminutively referred to as "testiculos" or "testiculi." The reason
this origin is speculative is because there's a possible Greek origin that uses a similar legal
principle and it may predate the Roman one. All right, thanks for watching, I hope you
had a ball. I'm Lowell Flanders and, until next time, I hope that you stay disturbingly informed!