Centimanes

Centimanes

English

Etymology

From Latin centimanus, a calque of Ancient Greek Ἑκατόγχειρες (Hekatónkheires, “the Hundred-Handed”) from centi- (“100”) + manus (“hand”).

Noun

Centimanes pl (plural only)

1. (Roman mythology) Synonym of Hecatoncheires.
   • 1882, The Chautauquan, Volume 3, Chautauqua Press, page 486,

     The Titans with the Cyclops and Centimanes (hundred-handed), were giants and the first inhabitants of the earth. Strictly the hundred hands belong to the brothers of the Titans, the Centimanes.

   • 1906, George Grote, A History of Greece, Volume 1, Dent, page 54,

     Of the three Centimanes enumerated by Hesiod, Brisareus only is mentioned in Homer, and, to all appearance, not as the son of Uranos, but as the son of Poseidṑn; not as aiding Zeus in his combat with the Titans, but as rescuing him at a critical moment from a conspiracy formed against him by Hḕrḕ, Poseidṑn and Athḕnḕ.

   • 1998, Robert Temple, The Sirius Mystery: New Scientific Evidence of Alien Contact 5,000 Years Ago, 2nd Edition, Random House (Arrow), page 325,

     ‘"From their shoulders sprang a hundred invincible arms and above these powerful limbs rose fifty heads attached to their backs." For this reason they were called the Hecatoncheires or Centimanes,’ as we are reliably told.

Anagrams

• incasement