'aruspice' originates from Latin, specifically the word 'haruspex', where the element 'haru-' (possibly from Etruscan) referred to 'entrails' and the element '-spex' (from Latin 'specere') meant 'to look'.

'aruspice' changed from Latin 'haruspex' (through Medieval Latin and Old French variants) into Middle English forms like 'haruspice'/'aruspice' and eventually appears in modern English usage as 'aruspice' with the plural 'aruspices'.

Initially, it meant 'a person who inspected entrails for omens' and over time the core meaning has remained largely the same, though the word is now rare and mainly historical or literary.