Pontifex maximus pointed out that the term existed before there were any bridges in Rome and derived the word from Old Latin "pontis" (sic) meaning a powerful or absolute master, while others derived it from "potis facere" in the sense of "able to sacrifice". The last derivation is mentioned also by Varro, who rejected it, but it was the view of Pontifex Maximus Quintus Scaevola. Others have held that the word was originally "pompifex" (leader of public processions). The word "pons" originally meant "way" and "pontifex" would thus mean "maker of roads and bridges". Another opinion is that the word is a
Latin obscenity from the root "trityo-" ("third") and originally meant a third party. The two meanings of "testēs" open the door for puns such as the following from Martial (2.72): Or Cicero's "testīs ēgregiōs!" ("outstanding witnesses!") in his amusing account of two witnesses hiding naked in a public bathhouse. The diminutive "testiculī" was entirely confined to the anatomical sense; it is used 33 times by the medical writer Celsus, but "testis" not at all. The satirists Persius and Juvenal also used the word "testiculī". Veterinary writers use both "testis" and "testiculus". In Catullus (63.5), the testicles are famously referred to as "pondera"