centum

Etymology 1

Learned borrowing from Latin centum (“hundred”), attested at least since 1890s. Its use in linguistics is due to it being a canonical example of a word retaining an original velar stop, as opposed to Avestan 𐬯𐬀𐬙𐬆𐬨 (satəm). Doublet of hundred and satem.

adj

1. (Indo-European studies) Referring to an Indo-European language that did not produce sibilants from a series of Proto-Indo-European palatovelar stops.
   Table 10.1 shows the relative chronology of centum and satem entries to the west. Along each trajectory, centum languages precede satem languages, and the frontier languages, thos most clearly showing peripheral type shift, are centum. 2003, Johanna Nichols, Archaeology and Language II: Archaeological Data and Linguistic Hypotheses

Etymology 2

Calque of Sanskrit शतक (śataka, “a hundred; a satakam”). The latter meaning is attested at least since 1991 and is explained by 100-point academic grading in India.

noun

1. (Sanskrit and other Indian philology) Satakam, set of one hundred verses connected by the same metre or topic.
   Tonda-mandala-sātacam, a centum of verses on the Conjeveram country, No. 148, C. M. 73. The sātacam is a poem of one hundred stanzas, in its appropriate metre. 1847, William Taylor, Madras Journal of Literature and Science
   Norman Cutler's Songs of Experience: The Poetics of Tamil Devotion (1987) provides a partial translation, choosing to translate just 50 hymns from the first two centums and a few phalasrutis, or the signature stanzas. 2017, Language, Culture and Power: English–Tamil in Modern India, 1900 to Present Day
2. (India) Perfect score on a board exam.
   Achyuta Satakam is a centum in Prakrit Language; Devanayaka Panchasat (the fifty on Devanayaka), in sanskrit and several poetical works in Tamil. 1991, A. Srinivasa Raghavan, The Life and Works of Sri Nigamanta Maha Desikan
   Though he secured a centum in mathematics, he failed to secure pass marks in other subjects. 1998, K. Srinivasa Rao, Srinivasa Ramanujan: A Mathematical Genius
   Ramesh scored a centum in mathematics. 2004, K. R. Narayanaswamy, A Teacher's Grammar of English