eel

Modern English eel comes from Old English ǣl, from Proto-Germanic *ēlaz, from PIE *angʷʰi- meaning "snake, eel, serpentine creature." The same root produced Latin anguis "snake" (giving English anguish through the metaphor of constriction, and anguilliform "eel-shaped"), Greek énkhelys "eel," and Lithuanian angìs "snake, viper." The semantic range of the PIE root covered both snakes and eels — creatures defined by their sinuous, legless form. German Aal, Dutch aal, and Old Norse áll are direct Germanic cognates. The eel was an enormously important food fish in medieval England — ely (the English city) derives its name from Old English ēlīġ "eel district," and rents were sometimes paid in eels. Within English, the connection to anger may exist through a root variant — the original sense being "to squeeze, to constrict," as a snake does.