Re: [tied] Re: Wuz

> > BTW I noticed that Skt. _vastu-_ "town" supposedly is a
> > cognate of Latin _astus_ "skill". What's this loss of v-
> > in Latin?
>
> I believe that the suggestion is that <astus> may derive
> from Gk. <astu> 'town', in which case the *w- was lost
> already in Greek.

I find the semantics a little unconvincing. In any case, the Greek astu is
borrowed directly into Latin meaning "city", as early as the 2nd century BC.
But the other suggestions I'm aware of seem equally unconvincing.

Peter