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ANVIL, an
iron block on which smiths hammer their work into shape. (E.) Anvil is for
anvild or anvilt, a final d or t having dropped off. In
Wright's Vocabularies, i. 180, is the entry 'anfeld, incus.' In
Chaucer's Book of the Duchess, 1163, we find anvelt.—A.S.
anfilte explained by Lat. incus, Ælf. Glos. ed. Somner, p. 65; also spelt
onfilt (Lye).—A.S.
on-, prefix, often written an-, answering to mod. E. on; and
fyllan, to fell,
strike down, the causal of fall. ¶ The manner in which the sense
arose is clearly preserved in Icelandic. The Icel. falla means (1)
to fall, (2) to fall together, to fit, suit, a sense to some extent preserved in
the M.E. fallen, to fall out fitly. The causal verb, viz. Icel.
fella (mod. E. fell) means (1) to fell, (2) to make to fit; and was especially
used as a workman's term. Used by joiners, it means 'to tongue and
groove' work together; by masons, 'to fit a stone into a crevice;' and by
blacksmiths, fella járn is 'to work iron into bars;' see Cleasby and Vigfusson's
Icel. Dict. 151, col. 1. This accounts, too, for the variation in
the second vowel. The A.S. onfilt is from A.S. fyllan, the M.E.
anvelt answers to Icel. fella. The same change took place in the
word fell itself, if we compare it with A.S. fyllan. Thus an
anvil
is 'that upon which iron is worked into bars,' or 'that on which iron is
hammered out.' B. 1. Similarly, the Dutch aanbeeld, an anvil, is
from Du. aan, on, upon; and beelden, to form, fashion.
2. The O.H.G. aneualz, an anvil (Graff, iii. 519) is (probably) from O.H.G.
ane, on, upon; and
O.H.G. valdan, to fold, fold up, hence, to fit. 3. The mod. G.
amboss, an anvil, is from G. an, upon; and M.H.G. bozen, to beat, cognate with
E. beat. 4. The Lat. incus, an anvil, is from Lat.
in, upon; and cudere, to beat, hammer. ¶
The Du. aanbeeld and O.H.G. aneualz are sometimes carelessly given as cognate
words with E. anvil, but it is plain that, though the prefix is the same in all
three cases, the roots are different. For the root of anvil, see
Fall. [※]
ERRATA
'Incus anfilte,'
Wright's Voc. i. 34, col. 2 (this is the same as the ref. to Ælf. Glos.
ed. Somner, p. 65). Also 'Cudo, anfilte,' id. i. 286, col.
2. 'Incuda [sic], onfilti,' Wright's Voc. ii. 111 (8th
cent.). Quite distinct from Du. aanbeeld; and the curious
spelling onfilti, found so early as in the 8th century, seems to me
entirely to preclude the possibility of considering it as a formation from A.S. fealdan,
to fold, in order to make it answer to O.H.G. aneualz, an anvil (from
O.H.G. valdan, to fold). We also find the curiuos and obscure
gloss (likewise of the 8th century): 'Cudo, i. percutio, cedo, vel onfilte;'
Wright's Voc. ii. 137, col. 1. The spelling anfeld occurs as
late as 1502, in Arnold's Chron. ed. 1811, p. 245. β. There are some
noteworthy remarks on this word in Koolman's E. Fries. Dict. s.v. ambolt and s.v.
filt, where he suggests that the O.H.G. aneualz cannot be from O.H.G.
valdan, to
fold (indeed, the z forbids it), but is rather connected with G. falzen, to
grooze, join (fit together). The A.S. onfilti points back to the
same base filt- or falt-, and then it becomes a question whether we may connect
this with G. filz, E. felt, and whether felt itself may be from a root
signifying 'to beat together.' The anvil would then be that whereon
iron is felted, i.e. welded together. The spelling anvelde occurs as
late as in Palsgrave.
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