> > The form /e:st/ "he / she eats" seems to be a contraction of a more
> > regular /edit/,
Interestingly I read today the form esto = let him eat in Livius Andronicus
(who died 204 BC). I presume this is either ed+to or e:st + o, depending on
your theory of the original of this imperative. Either way, it's a further
example, and an early one, of this es- form of the ed- root.