In the ancient Roman army, a centurion was the officer in charge of a century, a unit originally comprised of 100 men. In the UK, the book was published as Precinct 45: Los Angeles Police.Ĭenturion and centenarian are among several English words derived from the Latin word for one hundred: centum. Neither did Wambaugh’s British publishers, apparently. As it is about the lives of Los Angeles policemen, I don’t get the connection. Note: Joseph Wambaugh titled one of his novels The New Centurions. Just as 60 is the new 50 today, 100 will be the new 90! If those estimates are accurate, 43 years from now, many of those Boomers you see every day will be the new “centurions,” which strikes me as a better way to describe centenarians. Estimates are that the United States might have a million people 100 or older by 2050. There are more than 4,600 Canadians now 100 or older. I found an article in a Canadian publication in which the writer acknowledges that centenarian is the word usually used to describe a person who has reached the age of one hundred, but seems to think that centurion is a better word to describe a centenarian who remains in good health: Still active, she believes her eating habits have greatly contributed to her longevity, as do most centurions. In Okinawa, where the life expectancy is the highest on earth, 803 of 920 centurions who were alive as of September 2011 were women.ĭaisy McFadden, a longtime resident of New York, will celebrate her 100th birthday this November. In this article we take lessons from the centurion communities of the world to gain priceless insight into how we too can live the longest. The use of centurion in the place of centenarian is widespread in discussions of longevity on the Web. My assumption was that any English speaker who has read a book or watched a movie set in ancient Roman times, or who has a superficial acquaintance with the New Testament knows the historical meaning of centurion. I was amused, but assumed that the anchor’s error was unique and that I wouldn’t be able to find enough material to write a post on this misuse. Perhaps one of your columns could cover the meanings of “centurion” and “centenarian.” A news anchor on KTTC-TV, Rochester, Minn., just announced “There is a new centurion in Clear Lake, Iowa.” (This “new centurion” is a woman celebrating her 100th birthday. Varenus and that the show's creators must have borrowed those names to depict the characters on the show.A reader was startled when a television announcer misused the word centurion: (13) It indicates that there were two centurions that Caesar described with the names of T. (12) These passwords had to be repeated by the palace guards, who were grizzled old centurions given guard duty as a kind of honorable semi-retirement. (11) Senior non-commissioned officers were called centurions, who varied greatly in rank. (10) Both the blacksmith, my grandfather on my mother's side, and my father had been centurions and both were retired, but the Legion is something that never leaves you and Remus stood a fair chance. (9) Both centurions and their centuries rushed to the scene, but it was not what was expected. (8) In most cases, a censor and a chiliarch or centurion from the Imperial Guard were ordered to jointly oversee campaigns to apprehend brigands. (7) Mr Edwards said the original stone was an altar erected by a Roman centurion as a dedication to the gods for saving his life. (6) The cohorts, divided into six centuries (100 men in each century) commanded by a centurion, became the main tactical unit of the army. (5) Each centurion was required to ensure that his century was a capable and effective fighting force. (4) Like Nero, his family had ties to the Legion, but he was not of noble blood, unlike Nero, and could not become a centurion. (3) In Colchester museum, the tombstone of a Roman centurion stands a few feet above the spot where he had lain for centuries, a poignant bridging of time and space. (2) This text from Acts is probably a synopsis of a sermon given by Peter for the benefit of the Roman centurion, Cornelius, who was a person of faith. (1) Jesus welcomed outsiders: a Samaritan leper, a Syro-Phoenician woman, a Roman centurion, the good Samaritan and others.
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