centenus

Forms

centēnus (feminine centēna, neuter centēnum); first/second-declension numeral^[1] Chiefly used in the plural centēnī, centēnae, centēna, with genitive centēnum; the singular is poetic and later.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is from Latin centum (“hundred”) + -ēnī, with the suffix of the distributive numerals.^[2][4][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds the plural from Cato (234–149 BC) on, and the OLD's first example is from one of his speeches, of a hundred asses each.^[4][2][5]

Semantic evolution

The plural means “a hundred each”, also in multiplication and with mīlia,^[2] and poets use it simply for “a hundred”, as Virgil does of a hundred hands.^[2][3] The singular, first in Virgil, means “hundredfold, of a hundred”: centēnāque arbore fluctum verberat, “he lashes the waves with a hundred oars”.^[2][4][6] Persius speaks of a hundred throats, and Martial of “the hundredth consul”.^[2][6]

Used as a noun, centēna meant the rank of a centenarius at the imperial court, in the Theodosian Code,^[7][3] and centēnum meant rye, in Isidore of Seville.^[7] In Medieval Latin the noun named a hundredweight, a centenarius or chief of a hundred, and a troop of a hundred men,^[8][9][5] and in British sources the adjective describes a man with a wergeld of a hundred shillings.^[10]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – Cato, in a speech, of a hundred each.^[2][5]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses the singular for the first time.^[4][2][5]
• 34–62 AD – Persius has the singular centēnō gutture “with a hundred throats”.^[2][5]
• c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville records centēnum as a name for rye.^[7][5]
• 745/746 – Lombard laws use the noun.^[5]

Meanings

Numeral

1. (plural) One hundred each.^[2][3]
2. (plural) A hundred.^[2]
3. (singular, poetic) Of a hundred, hundredfold.^[2][6][11]
4. (Late Latin, as a feminine noun) The rank of centenarius.^[7][3]
5. (Late Latin, as a neuter noun) rye.^[7]
6. (Medieval Latin, as a noun) A hundredweight; a chief of a hundred.^[8][9][5]

Word family

• centēnārius
• centenionalis

Related words

• centum

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e 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 Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
9. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
10. ^ 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
11. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier