centumvir

Forms

centumvir m (genitive centumvirī); second declension^[1] It is chiefly plural, centumvirī, also written as two words or abbreviated Cvirī.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin centum (“hundred”) + vir (“man”).^[1][4][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Cicero,^[4] who mentions the court in the De oratore and in his speech for Caecina.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The centumvirī were a court at Rome that settled civil cases, especially those about inheritance.^[2][3] It first had 105 members, three from each tribe, and was later enlarged, to 180 under the emperors according to Lewis & Short.^[2][3] Quintilian, Suetonius and Pliny the Younger refer to it often.^[3] Similar courts are recorded in inscriptions at Perusia and Veii.^[3][2] In a medieval charter of 1198 a centumvir is a town councillor.^[4]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero, of the centumviral court.^[3][4]
• c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian.^[3][4]
• c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius.^[3][4]
• 1198 – A town councillor in a charter.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (usually plural) A member of the centumvirī, a Roman court for civil cases, especially of inheritance.^[2][3][1]
2. (Medieval Latin) A town councillor.^[4]

Related words

• centum
• vir
• decemvir
• triumvir

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de