Centumization

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The sound change by which palatovelars became plain velars in centum languages. Indo-European-studies, uncountable

    "[footnote:] For instance, if one reconstructs satəmization, the merger of *K and *Kʷ, as an innovation that defines a clade (approx. Thraco-Armeno-Daco-Albano-Balto-Slavo-Indo-Iranian), then the other remaining Indo-European branches must independently undergo centumization as they branch off at higher nodes. Each of these individually centumizing higher clades (Anatolian, Tocharian, Italo-Celtic, and Germanic) represents undesirable homoplastic innovations."

Example

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"[footnote:] For instance, if one reconstructs satəmization, the merger of *K and *Kʷ, as an innovation that defines a clade (approx. Thraco-Armeno-Daco-Albano-Balto-Slavo-Indo-Iranian), then the other remaining Indo-European branches must independently undergo centumization as they branch off at higher nodes. Each of these individually centumizing higher clades (Anatolian, Tocharian, Italo-Celtic, and Germanic) represents undesirable homoplastic innovations."

Etymology

From centum + -ization or centumize + -ation. Doublet of satemization.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.