Initial sp and st in Hittite

One of Hrozný's Hittite etymologies which may fairly be called obvious is the connection of šipanti 'he pours a libation' with Gk. and Lat. spondeo. Hrozný, to be sure, translated the word ‘opfert’, and thus lost the most convincing item in the case. The precise meaning of the word was established by Sommer and Ehelolf, who, however, somewhat pedantically refused to recognize the IE etymology except by implication; they mentioned it only in a parenthesis, ‘ohne damit der Verbindung mit σπϵ́νδ∈ιν das Wort reden zu wollen’.