centuria Latin · revision 3673

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=Cincius|origins=ine-pro *dḱm̥tóm}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (Classical): [kɛnˈtʊ.ri.a]^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [t͡ʃenˈtuː.ri.a]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''centuria''' ''f'' (genitive centuriae); first declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is derived from [[centum]] “hundred”, perhaps on the model of [[decuria]] “group of ten”.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)^(de Vaan 2008) Wiktionary explains it as *centu-viria, “a group of a hundred men”, with [[vir]] “man”.^(Wiktionary) The numeral is [[inh|itc-pro|*kn̥tom]], [[inh|ine-pro|*dḱm̥tóm|t=hundred]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan finds it from Cincius onwards,^(de Vaan 2008) who says there are sixty centuries in a legion.^(OLD 2012) Köbler cites the agrarian law of 111 BC.^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In the army it was a company of nominally a hundred soldiers, later about sixty, commanded by a [[centurio|alt=centuriō]], as in Varro, Caesar and Sallust.^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913)^(Gaffiot 2016) In politics it was one of the 193 units into which Servius Tullius was said to have divided the Roman people by property, which voted in the ''comitia centuriata'', as Cicero's candidate who lacked a few centuries for the consulship.^(Georges 1913)^(OLD 2012)

+

+ In land surveying it was a unit of usually two hundred ''iugera'' (one hundred ''heredia'').^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) In Medieval Latin it was a hundred, a subdivision of a county, especially the English hundred, and its court.^(Köbler 2010) English ''century'' was borrowed in the 1530s in the sense “a hundred” of anything.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 111 BC – The agrarian law uses it of a unit of land.^(Köbler 2010)^(OLD 2012)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of the voting centuries.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 50 BC – Caesar uses it of military companies.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1530s – English ''century'' is borrowed.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|century]], a company of soldiers (nominally a hundred).^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A voting unit of the Roman people.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A unit of land, usually two hundred ''iugera''.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' A hundred (division of a county); its court.^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[centuriālis]]

+ * [[centuriātim]]

+ * [[centuriō]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[centum]]

+ * [[en|century]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}