Arnis comes from arn s,[4] Old Spanish for 'armor' (harness is an

archaic English term for armor, which comes from the same roots as the
Spanish term). It is said to derive from the armor costumes used in
Moro-moro stage plays where actors fought mock battles using wooden
swords.

Arnes is also an archaic Spanish term for weapon, like in the following
sentence from "Ilustracion de la Deztreza Indiana" by Francisco Santos
deThe execution of this doctrine is so infallible, that not only does it
prove its superiority in contests with equal arms, but also when finding
the opponent with the apparent advantage of showing up armed with two
weapons, sword and dagger. For, even armed with those, experience shows
the difficulty of resisting the single sword used in this way...