> Are you saying that the replacement of /w/ by /v/ in all IE
languages that have done this is due to French influence? A change
that is so widespread I would think would be carried out
independently in all the languages in which it occurred (e.g. I
hardly think that French influence accounts for /v/ in Lithuanian).
It took place in stages. French influenced German, German influenced
north and south. Baltic German influence perhaps? According to
Piotr, /w/ is alive in Belarussian.
Torsten