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centenarius

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word centenarius

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 180–102 BC, Lucilius
Ultimate origin
Latin centēnus
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin centum
French cent
Italian cento
Latin centenus
Latin centenarius
Italian centinaio
From the same root
Latin centesimus ← centum
Latin centiens ← centum
Latin centumvir ← centum
Latin nongenti ← centum
Latin septingenti ← centum
Italian percento ← cento
Latin centena ← centenus

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [kɛn.teːˈnaː.ri.ʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [t͡ʃen.teˈnaː.ri.us][1]

Forms

centēnārius (feminine centēnāria, neuter centēnārium); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin centēnus (“a hundred each”) + -ārius, formed on the distributive numeral, which the OLD and Lewis & Short give in its usual plural ⟨centēnī⟩.[2][3][4][1] The numeral itself is made from centum (“hundred”).[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first author is Lucilius, who speaks of hurling ballistās centēnāriās, missiles weighing a hundred pounds.[2][3][4][5]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin it meant “of a hundred, containing a hundred”: Varro calls the numbers from a hundred to nine hundred the gradus centēnārius and speaks of a herd of a hundred head;[4][2][3] weights and missiles of a hundred pounds were centēnāria,[2][4] and a water pipe of a hundred digits, in Vitruvius and Frontinus, was a fistula centēnāria.[2][3] The epitome of Festus explains centēnāriae cēnae as dinners on which the Licinian law allowed no more than a hundred asses to be spent.[2] Under the Empire a freedman worth a hundred thousand sesterces and an equestrian prōcūrātor of that salary were centēnāriī.[3][7][2] Tertullian has the hundred-leaved rose, and Ammianus a man close to a hundred years old.[7][3][8]

As a noun, the neuter centēnārium was a weight of a hundred pounds;[4][7] Isidore of Seville explains that the Romans fixed it because a hundred is a perfect number.[4][7] The masculine meant an official: Vegetius uses it for the officers the ancients called centurions,[3][7][8] and in the late Empire it named a grade of officials.[7][9] Christian writers saw a symbolic meaning in the number a hundred.[8][4]

Medieval Latin used the noun for the leader of a centēna: a military commander, the elected head of a body for keeping order, the popular judge of the hundred court (also called thunginus), and later a deputy of the count.[10][11][9] In England it named a judge of the hundred court and a commander of a hundred men,[10][12] and it was also a hundredweight, a set of a hundred (or of the long hundred of 120) and a century.[12][11] Italian centinaio continues it,[4] and English centenary (1640s) was formed from it.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius speaks of missiles of a hundred pounds.[2][4][5]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of the numbers in hundreds and of a herd of a hundred.[4][3][5]
  • c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius has a stone weight and a water pipe of a hundred.[2][4][5]
  • c. 390 AD – Ammianus describes a man nearly a hundred years old.[7][8][5]
  • c. 400 AD – Vegetius uses the noun for centurions.[3][7][5]
  • c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville explains the weight centēnārium.[4][5]
  • 1640s – English centenary is formed from it.[6]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Of a hundred, containing a hundred;[2][3][4] gradus centēnārius, the hundreds.[2][3][4]
  2. Weighing a hundred pounds.[2][3][4]
  3. (of a water pipe) Of a hundred digits.[2][3]
  4. Costing a hundred asses; worth a hundred thousand sesterces;[2][3][7] prōcūrātor centēnārius, a provincial official of equestrian rank.[2][3][7]
  5. Having won a hundred victories.[2][1]
  6. (Late Latin) A hundred years old; hundredfold.[7][13][12]
  7. (Medieval Latin) Belonging to the jurisdiction of a centēna.[10][11]

Noun

  1. (Late Latin, neuter) A weight of a hundred pounds, a hundredweight.[4][7][12]
  2. (Late Latin, masculine) A centurion; an official of a certain grade.[3][7][8]
  3. (Late Latin) A man a hundred years old.[8][11]
  4. (Medieval Latin) The leader of a centēna; a hundredman, the judge of a hundred court.[10][11][12]
  5. (Medieval Latin) A hundred; a set of a hundred, or of the long hundred of 120; a century.[12][11]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  8. ^ a b c d e f Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  9. ^ a b du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
  10. ^ a b c d Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  11. ^ a b c d e f Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  12. ^ a b c d e f Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
  13. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson

Descendants

Cite this entry

“Centenarius.” Etymologically, 23 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/centenarius. Accessed 23 Oct. 2026.

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