Κεντών

patchwork, rag-covering

Translated by Nick Nicholas24 Oct 2008Vetting: high2 revisions

9 words

[Genitive] kentw=nos: Latin.
Also [sc. attested is] kentw/nion ["mini-patchwork"].

Greek original · Adler’s text

Κεντών, κεντῶνος· Ῥωμαϊστί. καὶ Κεντώνιον.

Betacode

*kentw/n, kentw=nos: *(rwmai+sti/. kai\ *kentw/nion.

The diminutive kentw/nion is defined in Lampe; kentw/n in Trapp. The form kentw/n is unique to the Suda; kentw/nion is attested in Nilus of Ancyra (5 CE), Dorotheus of Gaza (6 CE), and Cyril of Scythopolis (6 CE).
The word kentw/n corresponds to the original Latin cento, already attested in Cato, On Agriculture 2.3, 10.5. (The poetic form cento -- web address 1 -- is so called because it is a patchwork.) Since the Suda names kentw/n as a Latin word, without a definition, it is possibly giving the derivation of kentw/nion, instead of claiming that kentw/n was itself in use in Greek. In Nilus (see above) the term occurs as kentw/nh ~ kento/nh -- which appears to have been taken up in Greek instead of kentw/n.