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c.1530, John Rastell, The Pastyme of People: The Cronycles of Dyuers Realmys, London:
they were commytted to prison & put out of theyr offyces & the Constable of the Towre made custos of the citye.
1803, Robert Charles Dallas, The History of the Maroons, London: Longman and Rees, Volume 1, Letter 5, p. 148:
Mr. Tharp, the Custos of the parish, and several other gentlement, accompanied the corps.
(Roman Catholicism) A monastic superior, who, under the general of his order, has the direction of all the religious houses of the same fraternity in a given district, called a custody of the order.
(music,historical) In older forms of musical notation, an indication, at the end of a line of music, of the first note of the next line.
Of unclear ultimate origin. The mainstream etymology, proposed by Nowicki 1978, derives the word from a compound *kusto-sd-(“who sits near the hidden/near the treasure”), where the first element is cognate to Proto-Germanic*huzdą(“hidden treasure”) (also of uncertain etymology; see more at Englishhoard and below) and the second element is a reduced form of Proto-Indo-European*sed-(“to sit”). However, this etymology is disputed, and de Vaan is skeptical of it, with further discussion in the below box.
More information
One proposal derives *kusto- and *huzdą from *kudʰ-to-, from Proto-Indo-European*(s)kewdʰ-(“to cover, wrap, encase”), from *(s)kewH-(“to cover, hide”), whence Ancient Greekκεύθω(keúthō, “to conceal”) and Old Englishhȳdan(“to hide, conceal, preserve”). But the derivation of Latin /st/ and Proto-Germanic *zd from PIE *dʰ-t is controversial. Some etymologists consider /st/ to be the regular outcome in Latin of PIE *dʰ-t, based on aestās and aestus; according to this view, the /ss/ found in participle forms such as iussus and fossus was introduced by analogy with forms built on stems ending in other dental consonants. But Michiel de Vaan argues that it is better to analyze /ss/ as the regular outcome of *dʰ-t, and the /st/ of aestās and aestus as an analogical reformation. Thus, De Vaan considers the /st/ in custos unexplained and the etymology unknown.
Oswald Szemerényi (1952/3 ) alternatively derives the /st/ here and the *zd in Proto-Germanic*huzdą from PIE *sdʰ, tracing both back to a Proto-Indo-European*k(e)wsdʰo-(“palace, treasure house, treasure”). This etymology is accepted by Ringe 2006 who mentions Ancient Greekκύσθος(kústhos, “vulva”) as another cognate. However, Lubotsky 2004 finds this unconvincing and considers the regular outcome of *sdʰ in Latin to be a long vowel + /d/.
^ De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “custōs, -ōdis”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 159
^ Stuart-Smith, Jane (2004) Phonetics and Phonology: Sound Change in Italic (Oxford University Press), page 43; citing Leumann 1977: 168, Meiser 1998: 124
^ De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “aestās”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 28
^ Stuart-Smith, Jane (2004) Phonetics and Phonology: Sound Change in Italic (Oxford University Press), page 27; citing Szemerényi, O. J. (1952/3 ), 'The development of the Indo-European Mediae Aspiratae in Latin and Italic', Archivum Linguisticum, 4: 27-53; 99-116 and 5: 1-21＝Scripta Minora, vol. 2. 628-93.
^ Lubotsky, Alexander. (2004). "Avestan siiazd-, Sanskrit sedh-, Latin cedere." Per aspera ad asteriscos: Studia Indogermanica in honorem Jens Elmegard Rasmussen sexagenarii Idibus Martiis anno MMIV, 322 - 332 (2004).
^ Ringe, Don (2006) From Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Germanic, Oxford: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 95
Further reading
“custos”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
“custos”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
"custos", in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
custos in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.