Centurie

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A span of one hundred years in time ; a Roman army division of roughly eighty to a hundred soldiers led by a centurion
2. An interval of a hundred years, often used in dating events ; an ancient Roman military company of about a hundred men under one officer
3. A hundred-year period of time ; a company of roughly a hundred soldiers in the army of ancient Rome, commanded by a centurion

Etymology: "Centurie" is an Anglo-Norman and Middle English form of the word for a period of a hundred years, borrowed from Old French "centurie," which came from Latin "centuria," a unit of a hundred. The Roman "centuria" was a division of the army commanded by a centurion, and its link to time comes through the sense of a group or number of a hundred. The English form appeared in the 14th century and was used in the same sense as the modern "century." Its spelling is the real surprise. The word "century" in modern English was adopted later, and "centurie" was an older, now-obsolete variant that was eventually dropped in favour of the more Latinised form. Both forms trace back to the same Latin root, so "centurie" is essentially an earlier spelling of the same word rather than a different term.