cautes.

Likely a hypercorrection of cōtēs, the plural of cōs (“whetstone, sharpening stone”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱeh₃- (“to sharpen”), so originally meaning “sharp points, promontories”. See plaudō~plōdō for another possible example of the same hypercorrection. Cognates include Latin catus (“clever, cunning”), cōs (“whetstone”), cuneus (“wedge”) and Ancient Greek κῶνος (kônos, “cone”). A different suggestion relates it to English heap and Tocharian B kauc (“up, high”), from an irregularly shaped root, as well as with English high, a connection rejected by modern etymologists. The three different stop consonants t~p~k under this suggestion likewise remain unexplained.