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From fūr(“a thief”) + -unculus(diminutive nominal suffix).
The use of the ending -unculus, which more often appeared in diminutives of n-stem nouns, may be influenced by analogy with the word latrunculus(“highwayman, robber”), a diminutive with a similar meaning. Alternatively (particularly in the sense "ferret"), could be from fūrō + -culus, i.e. a diminutive formed on an n-stem base fūrō, an alternative form of fūr.