hundred

hundred (n.) O.E. hundred "the number of 100, a counting of 100," from W.Gmc. *hundrath (Cf. O.N. hundrað, Ger. hundert), first element is P.Gmc. *hunda- "hundred" (Cf. Goth. hund, O.H.G. hunt), from PIE *kmtom "hundred" (Cf. Skt. satam, Avestan satem, Gk. hekaton, L. centum, Lith. simtas, O.Ir. cet, Bret. kant "hundred"), from *dekm- "ten." Second element is P.Gmc. *rath "reckoning, number" (Cf. Goth. raþjo "a reckoning, account, number," garaþjan "to count;" see READ (Cf. read)). The common word for the number in O.E. was simple hund, and O.E. also used hund-teontig.

In Old Norse hundrath meant 120, that is the long hundred of six score, and at a later date, when both the six-score hundred and the five-score hundred were in use, the old or long hundred was styled hundrath tolf-roett ... meaning "duodecimal hundred," and the new or short hundred was called hundrath ti-rætt, meaning "decimal hundred." "The Long Hundred and its use in England" was discussed by Mr W.H. Stevenson, in 1889, in the Archcæological Review (iv. 313-27), where he stated that amongst the Teutons, who longest preserved their native customs unimpaired by the influence of Latin Christianity, the hundred was generally the six-score hundred. The short hundred was introduced among the Northmen in the train of Christianity. ["Transactions" of the Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society, 1907]

Meaning "division of a county or shire with its own court" (still in some British place names and U.S. state of Delaware) was in O.E. and probably represents 100 hides of land. The Hundred Years War (which ran intermittently from 1337 to 1453) was first so called in 1874. The original Hundred Days was the period between Napoleon's restoration and his final abdication in 1815.