ἔγχελυς

Ancient Greek

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *h₂engʷʰ- (“water-worm, eel”). Cognate with Latin anguilla (“eel”), Old High German angar (“mealworm, larva, grub”) (Modern German Engerling), Russian у́горь (úgorʹ), Lithuanian ungurỹs.

Influenced by ἔχις (ékhis, “snake”), in a same way Latin anguilla (“eel”) was influenced by anguis (“snake”), but unfortunately no Indo-European form can be reconstructed due to similar changes in other daughter languages, commonly attributed to a taboo. Cognate with Old Prussian angurgis and Albanian ngjalë. Compare Finnish ankerias (a borrowing from Baltic).

According to E. Hamp, a connection with Albanian ngjalë makes it possible that the name Enchele was derived from the Illyrian term for eels, which may have been anciently related to Greek and simply adjusted to the Greek pronunciation. (Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?)

Pronunciation

(5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /éŋ.kʰe.lys/
(1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈeŋ.kʰe.lys/
(4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈeɲ.çe.lys/
(10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈeɲ.çe.lys/
(15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈeɲ.çe.lis/

Noun

ἔγχελῠς • (énkhelus) f (genitive ἐγχέλῠος); third declension

eel

Inflection

Third declension of ἡ ἔγχελῠς; τῆς ἐγχέλῠος (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ἡ ἔγχελῠς hē énkhelus	τὼ ἐγχέλῠε tṑ enkhélue	αἱ ἐγχέλῠες hai enkhélues
Genitive	τῆς ἐγχέλῠος tês enkhéluos	τοῖν ἐγχελῠ́οιν toîn enkhelúoin	τῶν ἐγχελῠ́ων tôn enkhelúōn
Dative	τῇ ἐγχέλῠῐ̈ / ἐγχέλυι têi enkhéluï / enkhélui	τοῖν ἐγχελῠ́οιν toîn enkhelúoin	ταῖς ἐγχέλῠσῐ / ἐγχέλῠσῐν taîs enkhélusi(n)
Accusative	τὴν ἔγχελῠν tḕn énkhelun	τὼ ἐγχέλῠε tṑ enkhélue	τᾱ̀ς ἐγχέλῡς / ἐγχέλῠᾰς tā̀s enkhélūs / enkhéluas
Vocative	ἔγχελῠ énkhelu	ἐγχέλῠε enkhélue	ἐγχέλῠες enkhélues
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Descendants

Greek: χέλι (chéli) (from diminutive ἐγχέλειον (enkhéleion), through Koine and Byzantine Greek)
→ Classical Syriac: ܐܢܩܗܠܝܣ‎, ܐܢܩܠܣܐ‎, ܐܢܩܠܝܣ‎
- → Arabic: أَنْقَلِيس‎ (ʾanqalīs)

References

“ἔγχελυς”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
“ἔγχελυς”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
“ἔγχελυς”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
“ἔγχελυς”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
ἔγχελυς in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
ἔγχελυς in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
ἔγχελυς in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (2006–2023)
Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
- eel idem, page 262.