In the Stone Ages when men always swore by their balls. Countries didn't exist in that age. Time was irrelevant and wasn't measured either.

i don't know exactly but i do know that is where we get testify from

i believed the ancient hebrews had that practice.

In ancient Rome, when a man testified in court he would swear on his testicles. http://www.davesdaily.com/interesting/interesting-useless.htm There really is a strong link between testicle and testify (as well as attest, intestate, testament, contest and other words) but those who swear by this belief have misunderstood the matter. The Latin word for a witness was testis, which derives from an Indo-European word for the number three. That was because the Romans regarded a witness as what we would call a trusted third party, one who stands aside from the dispute and can tell it how it really was. The Romans did also use the word testis in a figurative way to mean testicle. The idea seems to have been that a testicle was a witness to a man’s virility. And that’s the whole story of the connection. One reason for the confusion may be that swearing on the testicles is recorded in the Bible. The practice is mentioned in the Old Testament, though the King James’ version bowdlerised the reference in Genesis to “grasping the thigh”. But there seems to be no evidence that the Romans — a long way away and in another era — used a similar method. In any case, the Biblical reference implies that the person is swearing on the testicles of the king, not on their own. Incidentally, testis sometimes appeared in the form testiculus, a diminutive form; this was converted into English at the end of the fourteenth century first as testicule and then as testicle. The Latin testis, with its plural testes, has continued in medical use to the present day. http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-swe1.htm The testis: what did he witness? Etymology is the study of the origin of words and, not infrequently, the story behind a word is far more interesting than the word itself. Within the world of medicine many terms appear innocent enough, but on further scrutiny their origin reveals considerable complexity of thought. For instance, the words temple and temporal both relate to the side of the head, but their origin lies within the Latin word tempus meaning time . The temple is something of a ‘biological clock’ as it is often the first part of the human body to show the effects of time, with grey hair, crows' feet and a receding hairline. Similarly, considering the word cataract (in its medical context), it means a clouding of the lens of the eye, usually associated with ageing. However, it is derived from the Latin cataracta and Greek katarraktes meaning a portcullis or waterfall ; as the portcullis descends in front of the entrance to the castle (or the water falls from a height) so does the cataract fall before the lens of the eye. The early anatomists were surely proud of their imaginations. The words testis, testes and testicles have an equally interesting origin in that they are all possibly derived from the Latin word testis, meaning witness. The question therefore is ‘What did the testis witness?’ to earn such a seemingly obscure title. A review of several dictionaries, encyclopaedias and medical textbooks reveals many different theories into this curious name, but no universal agreement. http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/action/showFullText?submitFullText=Full+Text+HTML&doi=10.1046%2Fj.1464-410X.2002.02783.x&cookieSet=1 the origins of the word testimony and testify are closely related to that of testis (or balls or nads for those who weren't forced to take Latin in school). Some historians believe that the Romans placed their right hands on their testicles and swore by them before giving a testimony. This is part of the reasons that eunuchs and women weren't allowed to testify in in court. Yes, I will certainly admit to there being controversy over this, but hey - its nice to be able to stick your hands down your pants and have some fun in court without being held in contempt. It is documented Roman law though that no man could bear witness unless he possessed both testes. Whatever the case, testify and testicle are from the same origin, and my certainly do give witness to my virility. http://everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1109056 In medieval India, a man used to put his hand under his thigh when taking an oath. Why the private organ is the target for swearing? Many modern scientists tried to locate the seat of virility or 'Life'. Some proposed the heart to be the seat of Life. But there are many cases that people revived to life after some hours of stopping of the heart. Some medical experts theorized that a body will not revive after it's brain ceases to emit the electrical signals. Even this theory could not stand the test of truth. Modern medicine knows that the first organ to decompose in a dead body is the private organ. There is not single case in the medical history that a person revived after the private organ started decomposing. Chandogya Upanisad says (VI.5.4): " Water when drunk becomes three fold; it's coarsest portion becomes the urine; it's middle portion the blood, and it's subtlest portion Prana."