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astus. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
astus, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
astus in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
astus you have here. The definition of the word
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Estonian
Verb
astus
- Third-person singular past form of astuma.
Latin
Etymology
From Proto-Italic *akstus, of uncertain origin,[1] suggestions include:
- from Proto-Indo-European *h₂éd-*sth₂u- (“a standing by”), from *steh₂-, thus formed to astō (“to stand by”) like the verb praestō to the adverb of the same form, with a by-form praestū.[1] In this case the full nominal declension is secondary;
- from Ancient Greek ἄστυ (ástu), from the common characterization of city-dwellers as more intelligent, also seen in urbānus; however, in the latter this appears to be a Late Republican development.[1]
- from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱst-, Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱ- (“sharp”) - compare Lithuanian aksti̇̀s, Latvian aksts (“prickle, sharp point”), Proto-Celtic *akstīno- (“furze, gorse”). In this case, the Proto-Italic form would be *akstus.
A long vowel is once attested for ā̆stūtia, which would be unexpected but parallelled by ācer. Attested since Plautus (second half of the 3d century BCE).
Pronunciation
Noun
ā̆stus m (genitive ā̆stūs); fourth declension
- (usually in the ablative) (by) craft, cunning, guile (with a positive or negative connotation)
- (usually in the plural) tricks, stratagems
Usage notes
The ablative singular astū is the only form used from Old Latin up through Ovid.[1]
Declension
Fourth-declension noun.
Synonyms
Derived terms
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “astus”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 59
Further reading
- “astus” on page 212 of the Oxford Latin Dictionary (2nd ed., 2012)
- “astus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “astus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- "astus", in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
- astus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.