English
spinetail
From spine + tail.
Proto-Indo-European *spey- ‘sharp point’
Proto-Italic *speinā ‘thorn’
Latin spīna ‘thorn’
Old French espine
Middle English spyne ‘a spine’
English spine
Proto-Indo-European *deḱ- ‘to tear, fray, shred’
…
Proto-Germanic *taglą ‘hair, fiber’
Proto-West Germanic *tagl
Old English tæġel
Middle English tail
English tail
Today it means
noun Any of several species of swifts of Apodinae, having shafts of the tailfeathers terminate in rigid spines.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / spinetail