ankle: [14] Ankle comes from a probable Old Norse word *ankula. It has several relatives in other Germanic languages (German and Dutch enkel, for instance, and Swedish and Danish ankel) and can be traced back to an Indo- European base *angg- ‘bent’ (ultimate source also of anchor and angle). Before the Old Norse form spread through the language, English had its own native version of the word: anclēow. This survived until the 15th century in mainstream English, and for much longer in local dialects. => anchor, angle
Old English ancleow "ankle," from PIE root *ang-/*ank- "to bend" (see angle (n.)). The modern form seems to have been influenced by Old Norse ökkla or Old Frisian ankel, which are immediately from the Proto-Germanic form of the root (cognates: Middle High German anke "joint," German Enke "ankle"); the second element in the Old English, Old Norse and Old Frisian forms perhaps suggests claw (compare Dutch anklaauw), or it may be from influence of cneow "knee," or it may be diminutive suffix -el. Middle English writers distinguished inner ankle projection (hel of the ancle) from the outer (utter or utward).
