Angle

Meaning

Noun

• A member of a Germanic tribe first mentioned by Tacitus, one of several which invaded Britain and merged to become the Anglo-Saxons; an Anglian.

Origin

• Borrowed from Latin Anglus, in turn borrowed from a Germanic source (compare Old English Ængle/Engle). Probably derived from the toponym Angle, related to Proto-Germanic *anguz "narrow, tight; tapering, angular", either indicating the "narrow" water (i.e. the Schlei estuary), or the "angular" shape of the peninsula.
• Folk etymology linking the word to English angel or any antecedents is demonstrably false.