Gender Feminine
Usage Germanic
Meaning & History
The meaning and origin of the first element is rather uncertain: we know that it comes from angil, but we don't exactly know where angil itself comes from. But there are a few possibilities. It might be an extended form of the element ang, which is derived from Old High German ango "prickle, thorn, sting" or encho "servant, lad, boy." The Angles, a Germanic tribe, might have derived their name from that element (so, angil might also refer to the Angles). An other possibility is that angil is an extended form of the element ingvi, which refers to the Norse god Ing or even to the Ingaevones, a Germanic tribe mentioned by Tacitus in his "Germania." Especially forms like Ingelburg remind one of that. And last but not least, angil might even be related to Gallic eingeal "light." The second element in this name is derived from Gothic bairgan (bergan in Old High German) "to keep, to save, to preserve", or from Old High German burg "fortress."