Etymology Dictionary

AGNAIL,  a corn on the foot; obsolete.  (F.,—L.)   α. Much turns on the definition.   In Ash's Dictionary, we find it to be 'the disease called a witlow (sic)'; but in Todd's Johnson it is 'a disease of the nails; a whitlow; an inflammation round the nails;' without any citation or authority.  The latter definition proves that the definer was thinking of the provincial Eng. hangnails, rightly explained by Halliwell to be 'small pieces of partially separated skin about the roots of the finger-nails;' but this is really quite a different word, and is plainly made up of hang and nail, unless it be a corruption of A.S. angnægl, a sore by the nail (occurring in A.S. Leechdoms, ii. 81, § 34, but given in Lye's Dictionary without a citation).   β. The old word agnail, now probably obsolete, meant something different, viz. a swelling or a corn.   It means 'a corn' in Rider's Dictionary, A.D. 1640 (Webster), and seems to have been especially used of a corn on the foot.   Palsgrave has 'agnayle upon one's too;' and in MS. Med. Linc. fol. 300 is a receipt 'for agnayls one [on] mans fete or womans' (Halliwell).   The fuller form is angnail, asserted by Grose to be a Cumberland word, and explained to mean a corn on the toe (Halliwell).—F. angonaille; Cotgrave has 'angonailles, botches, pockie bumps, or sores;' also called angonages, according to the same authority.   The Italian has likewise the double form anguinaglia and anguinaja, but these are generally explained to mean the groin; though there is little reason for connecting them with Lat. inguen.   Rather, turning to Ducange, we should note Low Lat. anguen, a carbuncle; anguinalia, with the same sense; and anghio, a carbuncle, ulcer, redness.   I should connect these with Lat. angina, quinsy, Gr. ἀγχόνη, a throttling, strangling; from Lat. angere, Gr. ἄγχειν, to choke; from ✔AGH or ANGH, to choke, compress, afflict.   From the same root come anger, anxious, &c.; and the notion of 'inflamed' is often expressed by 'angry.'   Hence I should suppose the original notion in the Low Lat. anghio and anguen to be that of 'inflammation,' whence that of 'swelling' would at once follow.   A corn would, according to this theory, be called an agnail because caused by irritation or pressure.   And from the same root must also come the first syllable of the A. S. ang-nægl, which may, after all, be the true source of both angnail and agnail.   The word is one of some difficulty; see remarks in the Errata. [※]

ERRATA

I now suspect that this article is incorrect, and that the F. angonaille has had little to do with the matter except in extending the meaning to a corn on the foot, &c.   See Catholicon Anglicum, p. 4, note 4.   It is better to consider the word, as commonly used, as E., since there is authority for A.S. angnægl.   In Gascoigne, ed. Hazlitt, ii. 313, we are told that hartshorn will 'skinne a kybed [chilblained] heel, or fret an angnayle off,' where the word is absurdly misprinted as anguayle.—A.S. angnægl, A.S. Leechdoms, ii. 81, § 34.   The form agnail corresponds with O. Fries. ogneil, variant of ongneil, a misshapen nail due to an injury.   The prefix ang- is from A.S. ange, in the orig. sense of 'compressed,' whence the compounds angniss, sorrow, anguish, &c.; see Anger.   The A.S. nægl = mod. E. nail.   It remains true that hang-nail is a corrupted form.   Thus agnail is an A.S. word, prob. modified by confusion with French.