ventus.

Inherited from Proto-Italic *wē̆ntos, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂wéh₁n̥ts (“blowing”), present participle of *h₂weh₁- (“to blow”). Etymology issues The term is often cited as an example of Osthoff's law, which predicts shortening of long vowels when followed by a resonant and then a consonant. Thus, the thematicized pre-form *h₂weh₁n̥tos could have yielded *wēntos, which would have eventually shortened into *wentos. However, the existence of Osthoff's law in Latin is disputed, and one alternative proposal suggests that *h₂weh₁n̥tos would have instead directly yielded *wentos. According to this theory, the laryngeal would disappear without any accompanying developments as, in Proto-Indo-European, laryngeals did not induce compensatory lengthening when in coda position. Cognate and synonymous with English wind, Sanskrit वात॑ (vā́ta), Avestan 𐬬𐬁𐬙𐬀 (vāta), and Ancient Greek ᾰ̓είς (ăeís). See also Latin vannus, from the same PIE root.

Inherited from Proto-Italic *gʷemtus, from Proto-Indo-European *gʷém-tu-s, from *gʷem- (“to come”). The -n- was, according to De Vaan, potentially adopted from the verb veniō (“to come”). By surface analysis, veniō + -tus (forming action nouns).