Some questions about Romance langs

Obconlang:

What is the origin of Spanish "como"/Fr "comme", etc? In desperation, I
might answer Latin "quo modo", but I'm all but certain that I'm wrong. I'm
totally stumped :p

Also, I suppose French "autre" comes from Latin "alter/altra/altrum"
(correct forms, right?); Spanish "otro/otra", however, would supposedly be
from "uter/utra/utrum", then? Or is that an isolated case of l-vocalization
in Spanish?

Speaking of which, why on earth did that Latin velarized-l only vocalize to
[w]/[u] in French, and not in at least half the Romance languages?
Typologically normal, or bizarre (as I'm finding it)? Did it vocalize in
Romanian, btw?

Regards,
Óskar

Replies