centēnus

Meaning

1. numeralpluralone hundred each
   Sed Cumanae plagae concidunt apro saetas et vel ferri aciem vincunt, vidimusque iam tantae tenuitatis ut anulum hominis cum epidromis transirent, uno portante multitudinem qua saltus cingeretur. Nec id maxume mirum, sed singula earum stamina centeno quinquageno filo constare, sicut paulo ante Fulvio Lupo qui in praefectura Aegypti obiit.1950 translation by H. Rackham But the Cumae nets will cut the bristles of a boar and even turn the edge of a steel knife; and we have seen before now netting of such fine texture that it could be passed through a man’s ring, with running tackle and all, a single person carrying an amount of net sufficient to encircle a wood! Nor is this the most remarkable thing about it, but the fact that each string of these nettings consists of 150 threads, as recently made for Fulvius Lupus who died in the office of governor of Egypt.77 CE – 79 CE, Plinius Maior, Naturalis Historia 19.11.8
2. numeralpoeticsingularone hundred (collectively); a hundredfold
   It gravis Aulestes, centenaque arbore fluctum verberat assurgens; […]There goes sullen Aulestes, one hundred rows strong, crushing the waves in his wake; […]29 BCE – 19 BCE, Vergilius, Aeneis 10.207–208
   quorsum haec? aut quantas robusti carminis offas / ingeris, ut par sit centeno gutture niti?Where’s all this leading? What enormous lumps of solid song are you heaping up that they need a hundredfold throat to labour over?c. 62 CE, Persius, Saturae 5.6

Declension

Origins

1. Proto-Indo-European*déḱm̥
2. Proto-Indo-European*ḱm̥tóm
3. Proto-Italic*kəntom
4. Latincentēnus

Proto-Indo-European *-nós Proto-Italic *-nos Latin -nus Latin -(ē)nus Latin centēnus From centum (“hundred”) + -(ē)nus (suffix forming adjectives and distributive numerals).