centum Hear it!

centum definition

cen·tum (kentəm, -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

Etymology: 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)

Comments


Do you have more to add? Sign in to share your linguistic knowledge or observation.

Connect with Facebook