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 Baltic loan).

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.

Derived terms

Ἐγχέλιοι (Enkhélioi, “Enchelei”)

Descendants

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

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 (2006–2024)
Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎^[1], London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
- eel idem, page 262.