the.com/deposition

means A formal, sworn out-of-court testimony, recorded word-for-word by a court reporter, usually as part of gathering evidence before a trial.

from From Latin 'deponere' — 'de-' (down) plus 'ponere' (to put or place) — meaning literally 'to put down.' The word traveled through legal Latin and French into English carrying that same sense: to lay something down on record. The same root gives us 'depot' (a place where things are put down) and 'component' (parts put together), while 'deposition' kept its specific legal job — putting one's testimony down, permanently, in writing.