An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Nagel

by Friedrich Kluge

Nagel, m., from the equiv. MidHG. nagel, OHG. nagal, f., ‘nail’; corresponding to OSax. nagal, Du. nagel, AS. nœgel, E. nail, OIc. nagl, ‘nail’; Goth. *nagls may be deduced from the recorded vb. nagljan, ‘to nail.’ The West Teut. words have mostly the double sense ‘nail of the finger or toe’ and ‘wooden, iron nail.’ The former meaning, in accordance with the corresponding words in the other Aryan languages, is the original one (in OIc. there is a distinction between nagl, ‘finger-nail,’ and nagle, ‘wooden, iron nail’). Teut. naglo- originated in Aryan noghlo-, or rather nokhló-; comp. OInd. nakhá, m. and n., ‘finger or toe nail, claw of birds,’ Gr. ὀνυχ- (nom. ὄνυξ), ‘claw, talon, hoof,’ then also ‘hook,’ Lat. unguis, ‘claw, talon,’ OSlov. nogŭtĭ, ‘nail, claw’ (from OSlov. nogà, f., ‘foot’); Lith. nágas, ‘finger-nail,’ nagà, ‘horse's hoof.’ ‘The root nokh, nogh, is unknown; it must not be sought for in nagen, the root of which was rather pre-Teut. ghnagh. See Nelke.