What is the original meaning of *sweh2dus? In Germanic *swo:t- means "sweet", in taste but also smell, sound, personality, etc. In Sanskrit <sva:du-> can mean "sweet" but I understand it more often means "tasty" or "palatable", sometimes "savory", and the verb <svad-> I believe means "to season (food)". For "sweet of taste" Sanskrit more often has <madhu-> (<"honey"). Lithuanian has <su:dyti> (or <su:de:ti>?) "to season", presumably from the weak grade of the root, while "sweet" is expressed by <saldus>, which probably originally meant "seasoned, flavoured, sweetened" since *sal- in all other IE languages means "salt", "salty", or "saltwater". Greek <he:dus> can mean "sweet of taste" but more often means "pleasant, lovely, agreeable, amiable, kind, dear, etc.". Latin <sua:vis> is "charming, pleasant, agreeable, attractive, nice" similar to the Greek word, but <sua:de:re> is "to urge, recommend, advise", probably originally "use sweetness of manner
to influence or persuade" (<persua:de:re>).
Is the earliest meaning of *sweh2dus "sweet to the taste"? Or is it "tasty" or "palatable"? Did *sweh2dus mean "sweet to any of the senses" or originally only "sweet to the taste"? No chance of "sweet in character" being the original meaning, I'm sure? Is *dluku- (Latin <dulcis>, Greek <glukus>) an IE word or is it from some substrate language in the Mediterranean? Could this be a more original word for "sweet of taste"? And is *medhu- certainly originally "honey" (I assume the meaning "fermented honey, mead" is later) or could it be simply "sweet" as in Sanskrit?
Andrew