Etymology
Unknown origin. Possibly from an earlier *kuri-spid-, a compound of curis (“Alternative form of quiris (“spear”)”) + a proto-Italic noun *spis (“lance”);[1] the latter would be from Proto-Indo-European *spey- (“sharp point”), and related to Latvian spina and Russian спина (spina).[2] However, dvandva compounds are quite abnormal within Latin, in addition to curis possibly being from the same unknown origin as cuspis to begin with.[1]
References
- “cuspis”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “cuspis”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- cuspis in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
De Vaan, Michiel (2008) Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 159
Roberts, Edward A. (2014) A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the Spanish Language with Families of Words based on Indo-European Roots, Xlibris Corporation, →ISBN