Name
The name of the Angles may have been first recorded in Latinised form, as Anglii, in the Germania of Tacitus. It is thought to derive from the name of the area they originally inhabited, the Anglia Peninsula (Angeln in modern German, Angel in Danish). This name has been hypothesised to originate from the Germanic root for "narrow" (compare German and Dutch eng = "narrow"), meaning "the Narrow [Water]", i.e., the Schlei estuary; the root would be angh, "tight". Another theory is that the name meant "hook" (as in angling for fish), in reference to the shape of the peninsula; Indo-European linguist Julius Pokorny derives it from *ang-, "bend" (see ankle).[1]
During the fifth century, all Germanic tribes who invaded Britain were referred to as Englisc, who were speakers of Old English (which was known as Englisc, Ænglisc, or Anglisc). Englisc also goes back to Proto-Indo-European *h₂enǵʰ-, meaning narrow.[2] In any case, the Angles may have been called such because they were a fishing people or were originally descended from such, so England would mean "land of the fishermen", and English would be "the fishermen's language".[3]
Gregory the Great, in an epistle, simplified the Latinised name Anglii to Angli, the latter form developing into the preferred form of the word. The country remained Anglia in Latin. Alfred the Great's translation of Orosius's history of the world uses Angelcynn (-kin) to describe England and the English people; Bede used Angelfolc (-folk); also such forms as Engel, Englan (the people), Englaland, and Englisc occur, all showing i-mutation.[4]
