*angijō

Probably from Proto-Indo-European *h₂enk-yéh₂, with Siever's Law realization *h₂enk-iyéh₂, from root*h₂enk-. The oxytone accent accounts for Proto-Germanic *-g- by Verner’s Law, while the *-yéh₂ formation underlies the feminine Germanic *jō-stem, a subset of *ō-stems. Compare Ancient Greek ἄγκος (ánkos) and Sanskrit अङ्कस् (aṅkas), both belonging to the same PIE root family; *h₂enk- itself is securely reconstructed with the meaning ‘curve, bend’ (Monier-Williams 1899: 7; Rix et al. 2001: 268). The semantic transition ‘curved or hollow ground’ → ‘valley, lowland’ → ‘meadow’ is strengthened by closely related Proto-Germanic *angraz¹ < *h₂enk-ró-s and Latin ancrae (Kroonen 2013: 28). Still, the deeper connection is not beyond doubt: Kluge (Kluge 1899: s.v. Anger) regards the further origin of the Germanic meadow words as obscure and only tentatively connects them with the notion ‘curved surface’. Recent evidence is especially interesting: Aikio (2025: slide 18, “PNo *ngj > Saami *vć”) reconstructs Proto-Norse *angjō- (> Old Norse eng) as the source of Proto-Saami *āvćō, independently confirming an old Germanic formation with *-j-, though not its ultimate PIE derivation.