英和和英

語源

A corruption of agnail (literally “painful (anguished) nail”), by folk-etymological reanalysis as hang +‎ nail; from 中期英語 agnail, from 古期英語 angnæġl, from ang- (“tight/painful”) +‎ næġl (“nail”). The first part is from Proto-Germanic *anguz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂énǵʰus (“narrow, tight”), while the second is from Proto-Germanic *naglaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₃negʰ-. The first component, ang- is also the origin of anguish, anger, and angst, while næġl is the origin of nail. Compare more "pure" Scots angernail, and similarly folk-influenced dialectal variants wrangnail and ragnail, all meaning "hangnail" and from 中期英語. Cognate with Old High German ungnagel and Old Frisian angneil, o(n)gneil.

Original sense of “loose strip of tissue”; the sense of “pointed corner of nail” is modern, and is connected with the reanalysis, due to stockings catching or “hanging” on the nail.