denoting or belonging to the group of Indo-European languages in which original velar stops became palatalized (k > s or /ʃ/). These languages belong to the Indic, Iranian, Armenian, Slavonic, Baltic, and Albanian branches and are traditionally regarded as the E group
Compare centum
Word origin
from Avestan satəm hundred; chosen to exemplify the variation of initial s with initial k (as in centum) in Indo-European languages
satem in American English
(ˈsɑtəm)
adjective
designating or of the group of Indo-European languages, including Indo-Iranian, Slavic, Baltic, Albanian, and Armenian, in which a prehistoric change of certain original stops into sibilants sets these languages apart from those of the centum group
Word origin
< Avestan satəm, hundred < Sans sátám: see hundred): so named because the initial sound illustrates the typical development in thisgroup of the IE palatal stop, which in the centum group is a velar stop