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centiens

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word centiens

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 250–184 BC, Plautus
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*dḱmtom)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin centum
French cent
Latin centesimus
Latin centumvir
Latin centumviralis
Latin septingenti
Latin centiens
Latin nongenti

Forms

centiēns (not comparable)[1] It is also spelled centiēs.[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is from Latin centum (“hundred”) + -iēns, a numeral adverb.[2][1][4] De Vaan traces centum to Proto-Italic *kntom and Proto-Indo-European *dḱmtom (“hundred”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has it first, in the Asinaria, of giving the same orders a hundred times;[3][6] Terence has something said a hundred times.[3]

Semantic evolution

It is often an exaggeration, “a hundred times”.[2] With sēstertium it stands for a hundred times a hundred thousand sesterces, ten million: Cicero has nearly twelve million paid out over three years, and eighteen million in the In Pisonem, and Nepos about ten million.[2][3] The grammarian Marius Victorinus requires the spelling centiēns, while Caper and Priscian have centiēs.[4]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus, of orders given a hundred times.[3][6]
  • 190–159 BC – Terence, of something said a hundred times.[3][6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero, of sums of millions of sesterces.[2][3][6]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. A hundred times, often as an exaggeration.[2][3][1]
  2. With sēstertium understood or expressed, ten million sesterces.[2][3]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Centiens.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/centiens. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·