Etymologically
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hundred

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈhʌn.drəd/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old English hundred (“the number 100, a count of 100”),[2][3] a compound of hund (“hundred”) and an element meaning “count, reckoning”,[3][4] from Proto-Germanic *hundaraþą,[2] which is also the source of Old Frisian hundred, Old Saxon hunderod, Dutch honderd, German hundert and Old Norse hundrað “120”.[2][3][5] The first element, Proto-Germanic *hundą, is from Proto-Indo-European *ḱm̥tóm (“hundred”),[2][3] reduced from *dkm-tom-, from Proto-Indo-European *dekm- (“ten”),[2][3] and is related to Latin centum, Greek hekatón, Lithuanian šimtas and Sanskrit śatám.[2][3][5] The second is Proto-Germanic *raþ- (“reckoning, number”), as in Gothic raþjo “account, number”.[2][5] It is related to cent, century, hectare and ten.[6][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The number: about 950 in Barnhart and the OED.[3][7] The common Old English word was simple hund, and Old English also used hund-teontig.[2][6]

Semantic evolution

In Old English hundred also named a division of a county or shire with its own court, probably representing 100 hides of land;[2][6] it survives in some British place names and in Delaware.[2] Old Norse hundrað meant 120, the “great hundred”.[3] The Hundred Days was the period between Napoleon's restoration and his final abdication in 1815, so named from 1827,[2][7] and the Hundred Years War (1337–1453) was first so called in 1874.[2][7]

Timeline

  • c. 950 – the number.[3][7]
  • Old English – a division of a shire.[2]
  • 1827 – the Hundred Days.[7]
  • 1874 – Hundred Years War.[2][7]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. The cardinal number equal to ten times ten (100).
  2. hundreds: a large indefinite number.
  3. A banknote worth 100 dollars or pounds.
  4. A historical division of an English county.

Adjective

  1. Being ten times ten.

Word family

  • hundredfold
  • hundredth
  • hundredweight
  • Hundred Years' War

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press