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

 

• IPA^(key): /éŋ.kʰe.lys/ → /ˈeɲ.çe.lys/ → /ˈeɲ.çe.lis/

• (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

1. 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.