astus

astus

1. Third-person singular past form of astuma.

Uncertain,^[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 akstìs, 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).

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

ā̆stus m (genitive ā̆stūs); fourth declension

1. (usually in the ablative) (by) craft, cunning, guile (with a positive or negative connotation)
2. (usually in the plural) tricks, stratagems

The ablative singular astū is the only form used from Old Latin up through Ovid.^[1]

Fourth-declension noun.

• dolus
• calliditās

• ā̆stūtus
• ā̆stūtia

• astū

• “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.