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It is believed that Quirino was originally a Sabine god of war. The Sabines had a colony nearby to where Rome was founded, and made an altar to this God in Collis Quirinalis (Quirinal Hill), one of the seven hills of Rome. When the Romans settled in the region, eventually absorb the cult of Quirino to its archaic belief system - before the Greek influence - and at the end of the first century BC, Quirino was already considered to be Romulus deified. It soon became an important god of the Roman state, being included in the oldest forerunner of the Capitoline Triad, along with Mars (then the god of agriculture) and Jupiter. Varrus comments on the Capitolium Vetus ("Old Capitol") an archaic cult practiced in the Quirinal and dedicated to Jupiter, Juno and Minerva, on which Marcial makes a comment regarding the difference between "old Jupiter" and the "new" (the latter Jupiter has a Greek influence, equivalent to Zeus ).

In later periods, however, Quirino became far less important, and lost his place to the Triad Capitolina (with Juno and Minerva taking the place of Quirino and Mars). Later the Romans themselves began to move away from state belief system, favoring more personal and mystical cults (such as Dionysus / Bacchus, Cybele and Isis) until Quirino became revered almost exclusively by his flamen, the Flamine Quirinal (Flamen Quirinalis), which remained one of the patricians considered major flamines, superior in importance to maximum Pontiff (Pontifex Maximus).The name would come from Quiris, meaning "spear". Another theory proposes that would be derived from co-viri ("men together"); to the extent that he personified the military and economic might of the Roman populus collectively. Also warned the curia ("Senate House") and curiata assembly ("tribal assembly") - terms that would cognates of this name.