The apparent connection between Latin "testes", "testicles," and "testis", plural "testes", "witness" (the origin of English "testify" and "testimony") may lie in archaic ritual. Some ancient Mediterranean cultures swore binding oaths upon the male genitalia, symbolizing that "the bearing of false witness brings a curse upon not only oneself, but one's house and future line". Latin writers make frequent puns and jokes based on the two meanings of "testis": it took balls to become a legally functioning male citizen. The English word "testicle" derives from the diminutive "testiculum". The obscene word for "testicle" was "coleus".