cayuse · noun1
Named after the Cayuse tribe of the Pacific Northwest. However, the etymology of this tribe name is unknown; it may be an exonym, and may in fact come from Spanish caballo (“horse”), which is the source of the word for horse in many Native American languages of western North America.
Cayuse · noun2
- French · borrowed fromcailloux
- English todayCayuse
Adapted from French cailloux, a pre-existing French word. The reason this word came to be used for the tribe is unknown; see the Wikipedia article for theories.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.