Re: Wuz

>
> >I suppose _two_ < OE
> > twa: doesn't count - sporadic loss of /w/ in environment C_O:

has

> > been going for a long time - e.g. _c(w)o:m_ 'came' OE, _sword_,
> _so_
> > < OE _swa:_, occasional /kO:t/ for <quart>.
> >
>
> Danish _to_ (cf. Swedish _två_) is considered as an application
> of /va/ > /vo/ > /o:/. _kom_ "came" (for Old Danish _kvam_) is a
> paradigmatic regularisaton (_kwam_ "came" in Dutch is the only
> remaining form of the verb with /kw-/).
>

Old Danish and Old Swedish has a neuter _tu_, surviving in
Da.,Sw. '(slå) itu' "(break) in two, destroy". It is _not_ Old Norse
(_tvau_ n.). Perhaps the English spell a masculine, but pronounce a
neuter?

BTW I noticed that Skt. _vastu-_ "town" supposedly is a cognate of
Latin _astus_ "skill". What's this loss of v- in Latin?

Torsten