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centuriatus

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word centuriatus

centuriatus1 divided into centuries

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 250–184 BC, Plautus
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*dḱm̥tom)
Etymology tree of centuriatus1
inherited borrowed derived
Latin centurio
Latin centuriatus

Forms

centuriātus (feminine centuriāta, neuter centuriātum); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

Used as an adjective, it is the past participle from Latin centuriō (“to divide into centuries”), a verb formed on centuria (“a group of a hundred, century”).[1][2][3] De Vaan derives centuria from centum (“hundred”), which goes back directly to Proto-Indo-European *dḱm̥tom (“hundred”), through Proto-Italic *kn̥tom.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL quotes Plautus: a character plans to carry off the soldier's girl that day, if his men are well drawn up in their companies.[3][5]

Semantic evolution

Its main use is in ⟨comitia centuriāta⟩, the assembly of the Roman people that voted by centuries, recorded by Varro, and ⟨lēx centuriāta⟩, a law passed by that assembly, in Cicero.[1][2] The land surveyors use it of land divided into square lots called centuriae.[1]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of soldiers formed into companies.[3][5]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro of the comitia centuriata.[1][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of a law passed by the centuriate assembly.[1][5]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Divided into centuries; of soldiers, formed into companies.[3][2]
  2. Voting by centuries: comitia centuriāta, the assembly of the Roman people that elected the higher magistrates and voted on laws;[1][2] lēx centuriāta, a law passed by it.[1][2]
  3. Of land, divided into square lots.[1]

centuriatus2 office of centurion

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
81–43 BC, Cicero
Ultimate origin
Latin (centuriō)
Etymology tree of centuriatus2
inherited borrowed derived
Latin centurio
Latin centuriatus

Forms

centuriātus m (genitive centuriātūs); fourth declension[6]

Etymology

The noun is from Latin centuriō (“centurion”) + -ātus, probably formed like centuriōnātus.[3][1] Lewis & Short derive its sense “division into centuries” from the verb meaning to divide into centuries instead.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lewis & Short and the OLD cite it first from Cicero, of the office of centurion.[2][1][5] The TLL notes that Cicero twice has it in the plural.[3]

Semantic evolution

It is the rank and post of a centurion, in Cicero and in Suetonius.[2][1] Livy uses it of the division of soldiers into centuries.[2][5] In medieval England it was used for the Anglo-Saxon hundred, a division of a shire.[7]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of the office of centurion.[2][1][5]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of the division into centuries.[2][5]
  • c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius of the office of centurion.[2][5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The office of centurion.[1][2][6]
  2. A division into centuries.[2][6]
  3. (Medieval Latin) The Anglo-Saxon hundred.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
Cite this entry

“Centuriatus.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/centuriatus. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

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