cento

Forms

centō m (genitive centōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is perhaps inherited from Proto-Italic *k(e)nt-n-, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *k(e)ntH-n-, as de Vaan tentatively reconstructs it, if Sanskrit कन्था (kanthā-, “rag, patched cloth”) is cognate;^[2] the OLD also compares the Sanskrit word.^[3] De Vaan warns that the two may well be unrelated, and that other words adduced, such as Old High German hadara (“rags”), lack the nasal.^[2] Lewis & Short and the TLL compare Ancient Greek κέντρων (kéntrōn),^[4][5] and Wiktionary derives it from κέντρον (kéntron).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus,^[2][5] who has the proverbial centōnēs sarcīre alicui, "to patch rags for someone", that is, to deceive him with lies.^[4]

Semantic evolution

It is a cloth or garment made of pieces sewn together, a patchwork, quilt, blanket or curtain of old garments.^[3][4] Cato, Lucilius, Sisenna and Caesar use it.^[4] Ammianus Marcellinus uses it of a cap worn under the helmet.^[4] Tertullian and Isidore of Seville use it of a poem patched together from the lines of another poem, as in the Cento Nuptialis of Ausonius.^[4][6] It survives in southern Italian centone and Sardinian bentone.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus in a proverb about patching rags.^[4][2]
• 234–149 BC – Cato.^[4]
• c. 50 BC – Caesar.^[4]
• c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian of a patchwork poem.^[4]
• c. 390 AD – Ammianus Marcellinus of a cap under the helmet.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A patchwork cloth; a quilt, blanket or curtain made of old garments sewn together.^[3][4][1]
2. A cap worn under the helmet.^[4][1]
3. (proverbial) centōnēs sarcīre alicui, to deceive someone with lies.^[4]
4. A poem made up of lines from another poem, a cento.^[4][6]

Word family

• centōnārius
• centunculus

Usage notes

Centō is also a Roman cognomen, found in Cicero,^[4] and borne by the consul Gaius Claudius Centho.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill