astus

Estonian

Verb

astus

Third-person singular past form of astuma.

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *akstus, of uncertain origin, suggestions include:^[1]

from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱst-, Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱ- (“sharp”) - compare Lithuanian akstìs, Latvian aksts (“prickle, sharp point”), Proto-Celtic *akstīno- (“furze, gorse”);
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. 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.

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

(Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈaːs.tus/, [ˈäːs̠t̪ʊs̠] or IPA^(key): /ˈas.tus/, [ˈäs̠t̪ʊs̠]
(modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈas.tus/, [ˈäst̪us]

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

Declension

Fourth-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	ā̆stus	ā̆stūs
Genitive	ā̆stūs	ā̆stuum
Dative	ā̆stuī	ā̆stibus
Accusative	ā̆stum	ā̆stūs
Ablative	ā̆stū	ā̆stibus
Vocative	ā̆stus	ā̆stūs

Synonyms

Derived terms

References

“astus” on page 212 of the Oxford Latin Dictionary (2nd ed., 2012)

^ 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

“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.

[1] 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

[1]