anvil

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English anvelt, found in many spellings such as anfelt, anvilt and anvil,^[2][3][4] inherited from Old English anfilte, also anfilt, anfealt and early onfilti.^[4][5][6][7] Barnhart notes that the f and t of the older forms had mostly become v and d by the late 15th century, and that the final d was dropped in the 17th;^[4] Etymonline records anvyll by the mid-15th century.^[3] The word is cognate with Middle Dutch aenvilte in Limburg, Old Saxon anafelti and, with another ablaut grade, Old High German anafalz.^[6][8][7] It is a Germanic compound of Proto-Germanic *ana (“on”), the source of on, and a verbal stem meaning to strike or beat,^{[3][8][9][10]} found in the Old High German compounds in -falzan and related to felt.^{[6][4][7][10]} The OED traces this stem to an extended form of the Indo-European base of Latin pellō (“to strike, beat”),^[6][10] which Etymonline and the American Heritage Dictionary give as Proto-Indo-European *pel- (“to thrust, strike, drive”).^[3][11] Other West Germanic words for the anvil were formed in the same way with other verbs, such as anabōz, the source of German Amboss, with the base of beat, and the Dutch word aambeeld.^[6][8] The Germanic words may have been modelled on Latin incūs (“anvil”), from in- and cūdō (“to beat”),^{[8][6][12][10]} but the OED notes that ironworking in northern Europe is older than much contact with Rome, and Barnhart cites Kluge's view that no Latin model is needed.^[6][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A smith's anvil: the word glosses the Latin word for an anvil in the early Old English Corpus Glossary,^[6] and an early form onfilti glosses the same Latin word.^[5][4] Barnhart dates onfilti to before 800 and anfilte to about 1000, in Ælfric's Grammar.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Chaucer used the word twice, in the form anvelt.^[13] Figurative use, of something on which a thing is forged or shaped, is recorded from before 1450,^[6] and on the anvil, in preparation, from 1645; the OED notes that the phrase now belongs chiefly to South Asian English.^[6][14] Johnson (1755) gave the smith's block, anything on which blows are laid, and the figurative to be upon the anvil.^[14] From 1594 the word named the incus, the middle bone of the ear, after its shape,^[6] a use Etymonline dates to the 1680s.^[3] Later uses for things like an anvil include the part of a cartridge against which the primer is struck (1837), an anvil played as a percussion instrument (1853) and the flat spreading top of a thundercloud (1873).^[6] In Kent, anvil-shaped clouds were believed to foretell rain.^[15] The verb, to forge or hammer out on an anvil, chiefly figurative, is recorded from 1596.^[6]

Timeline

• before 800 – onfilti, glossing the Latin word for an anvil.^[4][5]
• c. 1000 – anfilte, in Ælfric's Grammar.^[4][5]
• before 1450 – figurative use, of something on which a thing is shaped.^[6]
• 1594 – the incus of the middle ear.^[6] Etymonline dates this sense to the 1680s.^[3]
• 1596 – verb, to forge or shape on an anvil, chiefly figuratively.^[6] Merriam-Webster Unabridged dates the verb to 1607.^[16]
• 1632 – something resembling an anvil in form or use.^[6]
• 1645 – on the anvil, in preparation.^[6]
• 1837 – the metal part of a cartridge against which the primer is crushed.^[6]
• 1853 – an anvil struck as a percussion instrument.^[6]
• 1873 – the flat top of a cumulonimbus cloud.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A heavy iron or steel block on which a smith hammers and shapes metal.^[16][17][6]
2. A machine part that serves a similar purpose, such as the fixed jaw of a measuring tool or the lower part of a telegraph key.^[16][17]
3. The incus, the middle one of the three small bones of the middle ear.^[16][17][6]
4. The metal piece in a cartridge against which the primer is crushed by the firing pin.^[16][6]
5. (music) An anvil, or one or two steel bars, struck as a percussion instrument.^[6]
6. (meteorology) The flat, spreading top of a cumulonimbus cloud.^[6]
7. on the anvil: being prepared or considered: A new budget is on the anvil.^[6][14]

Verb

1. To shape on an anvil; to hammer out, chiefly figuratively.^[6][16]

Related words

• felt
• on
• incus
• pulse

Usage notes

Merriam-Webster Unabridged labels the verb obsolete, while the OED, revised in 2016, records it as still in use, chiefly figuratively.^[16][6]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c d Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
11. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
12. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
13. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
14. ^ a b c Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
15. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
16. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
17. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins