The older consonant cluster sn- loses its s in Latin:
nix "snow" vs. English snow
cēna "supper" vs. older Latin cesna
Two questions:
1) Since word-medial -sn- was clearly lost within the history of Latin, is the same thought to be true of word-initial sn-?
(I'm pretty sure that sn > n is not pan-Italic, as I think there are attested forms with initial sn- from some of the non-Latin Italic languages, but I don't recall any examples of initial sn- within Latin.)
2) Is there thought to be any link between the changes sn > n and gn > n in Latin?
I ask because the latter change also seems to have happened within the history of Latin (gnōtus ~ nōtus "known, recognized"), although it does not seem to have extended into word-medial environments at all (ignis "fire", lignum "wood", etc.).
Thanks