They are, if you dig far enough. The first is from the latin status (state, position) [1], the result of the verb stare (to stand), from the proto-indo-european

They are, if you dig far enough. The first is from the latin status (state, position) [1], the result of the verb stare (to stand), from the proto-indo-european root sta/ste. The latter is from the latin testis (witness, c.f. testimony) [2] which deconstructs into ters (third) and -stis (the act of stare), meaning quite literally "a third party standing by". [1] https://www.etymonline.com/word/state https://www.etymonline.com/word/state [2] https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/testis#Latin https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/testis#Latin