Where does “au” come from?

au (Proto-Oceanic) comes from Proto-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian aku, from Proto-Central-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian aku, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian aku, from Proto-Austronesian aku.

Ancestry of “au”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Proto-Eastern Malayo-Polynesianaku—
2Proto-Central-Eastern Malayo-Polynesianaku—
3Proto-Malayo-Polynesianaku—
4Proto-Austronesianaku—
Every word from Proto-Austronesian aku →Every word from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian aku →Every word from Proto-Central-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian aku →