I see now the true meaning behind that word. No, I haven't "looked it up"--not what it means today nor how it ended up meaning that--but I would say that it means/has-meant/wioll-ben-haben-mennenging "a story/retelling that serves as an example" ... kind of a 'the way stuff is/was/might-be'.
Evan Almighty--like Bruce Almighty before it (only a prequel in the same sense as Vince McMahon is my ancestor)--serves as a Testament ... in this case, a reminder that God's work is here for us to pick up IF WE'RE READY FOR IT.
I'm seeing that Spout-ers--on average--aren't READY FOR IT. That's something I've noticed about the last few movies I've reviewed here---the reviewers don't understand that THE VIEWER makes the movie good or -bad! The typical review-writer--I suppose 'in order to prove `is cinematic esteem-level (or something)--will often paint the movie as bad as `e possibly can ... often going so far as to make the quid pro quo argument of 'I've seen [this actor, director, producer, caterer, whatever] do some other movies, and this one is the least worthy for that person' or something.
I probably have-written/will-write an article on "How to Watch Movies," but for now I'll just give you the Napoleon rule: When you are watching a movie, NO OTHER MOVIE EXISTS!
That rule comes from Napoleon's rule with women: gentlemen, when you're talking to a lady, SHE IS THE ONLY OTHER HUMAN BEING ALIVE!
That falls in line with something else I learned from this movie (other than the lesson it shares with its prequel): that--if you know you are doing the right thing--you will get all the help you need to see it through.
That's another dangerous lesson (the first one being something like "YE ARE GODS!" lol), because it's very-easy to misread 'knowing you are doing the right thing' as "doing whatever as if it is the right thing."
For example, John Goodman's character 'cut corners' in constructing some important work in a national-park. He managed to save himself some money in the short-run, and the build still worked as well as it seemed to need to, so the shoddy work was 'done as if it were the right thing.'
But, whether-or-not he knew the shoddy work would break down, he also knew the right thing to do would've been to use the full budget on the project to which it was assigned. Now--as it has broken--he has to pay for both the rebuilding as with full budget and the damages caused by his shoddy worksmanship prior.
But, whether-or-not Steve Carell's Evan had caught wind of any of this, he knew that God was directing him to the ARK (as God wouldn't let him be "normal" until the ARK was finished). Evan's children ALWAYS knew he was right, but they needed to wait until Lauren Graham's character listened to her heart and led them back to help Evan see the ARK through!