centaine

Forms

centaine f (plural centaines)^[1] Old French centeine.^[2][3] Anglo-Norman also had centein and centene.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin centēna, a military term for a group of a hundred men in the early 7th century.^[5][6][7] The Latin noun is the feminine of centēnus, first a distributive, “a hundred each” (Cato), then used for “a hundred” (Virgil); as a noun it had already named the rank of a centurion in the 4th century.^[5][6] It is derived from centum (“hundred”), the source of cent.^[2][8] The ending ⟨-aine⟩ is probably due to a change of suffix, after the other collective numerals in ⟨-aine⟩.^[5][9] Bloch and Wartburg treat it as either a derivative of the numeral or the Latin noun with its suffix replaced;^[9] Wiktionary analyses it as the numeral with the suffix -aine.^[9][1]

Cognate with Old Occitan centena and Spanish centena.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found about 1170 in the Livre des Rois, for a group of a hundred or about a hundred: od centeines e od milliers de cumbateurs, “with hundreds and thousands of fighters”.^[5][3] The Anglo-Norman Dictionary has it from 1155, for a company of a hundred men.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The word has meant both an exact hundred and, by extension, about a hundred.^[6] A temporal sense, “a period of a hundred years”, is found at the end of the 16th century in Saint François de Sales but did not last;^[5][6] la centaine for the age of a hundred (1762, Voltaire) may go back to it.^[5][6] In arithmetic it is the unit of the third order in decimal numbering (la colonne des centaines).^[8][5] Par centaines means “in great numbers”.^[8][3]

Littré also records centaine as a division of the population in the Germanic kingdoms, about a hundred families under one chief, and later the corresponding territory.^[3]

Timeline

• 1155 – Earliest Anglo-Norman record.^[4]
• c. 1170 – Centeines in the Livre des Rois.^[5]
• First half of the 13th century – The spelling centaine, in the Sermons poitevins.^[5]
• Late 16th century – “A hundred years”, in Saint François de Sales.^[5]
• 1762 – La centaine, the age of a hundred, in Voltaire.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. (arithmetic) A group of a hundred units; the hundreds, the third order of units in decimal numbering: centaine de mille.^[8][5]
2. A group of a hundred people or things: des bougies vendues à la centaine.^[10][8]
3. About a hundred, a hundred or so: une centaine d'invités.^[8][1]
4. Par centaines: in great numbers, by the hundred.^[8][3]
5. La centaine: the age of a hundred years: atteindre la centaine.^[8][10]
6. (history) In the Germanic kingdoms, a hundred, a division of about a hundred families.^[3]

Related words

• dizaine
• douzaine
• quinzaine
• vingtaine
• cent
• centième
• Latin centum

Usage notes

A second, technical noun centaine names the strand that ties together the threads of a skein, first found in Old Norman as chaintaine (1280) and as centaine in Furetière (1690).^[5][6] It is probably the same word, first used of a skein wound a hundred times, though the TLFi doubts the FEW's reading of the first record.^[5][6] The Académie (1835) notes a spelling sentène, and the phrase perdre la centaine “to lose the thread, get muddled” is found in the 19th century.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d e f g Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
4. ^ a b c Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
6. ^ a b c d e f g Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 584a
8. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
10. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse