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centum

(ken′təm, -to̵om)

adjective

designating or of the group of Indo-European languages, including Germanic, Italic, Hellenic, Celtic, Anatolian, and Tocharian, in which a complicated but systematic development of the Indo-European palatals and labiovelars sets these languages apart from those of the satem group

Origin: L, hundred: so named because the initial velar stop of L centum illustrates the typical development in this group from the IE palatal stop (i.e., IE  → centum k, satem s̸h)

See centum in American Heritage Dictionary 4

adjective

Designating those Indo-European languages, including the Italic, Hellenic, Celtic and Germanic subfamilies, that merged the palatal velar stops with the plain velars k, g, gh and maintained a distinction between them and the labiovelars k^w, g^w, g^wh.

Origin:

Origin: Latin, hundred (a word whose initial sound in classical Latin illustrates the preservation of the Indo-European palatal velar as a velar k); see dekm̥ in Indo-European roots

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