denoting or belonging to the Indo-European languages in which original velar stops (k) were not palatalized, namely languages of the Hellenic, Italic, Celtic, Germanic, Anatolian, and Tocharian branches
Compare satem
Word origin
Latin: hundred, chosen because the c represents the Indo-European k
centum in American English
(ˈkɛntəm; ˈsɛntʊm)
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
Word 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 sh)