Anvil
Old English anfilte, from the Germanic base of on + a verbal stem meaning ‘beat’.
wiktionary
From Middle English anfilt, anvelt, anfelt, from late Old English anfilt, anfilte, anfealt, from earlier onfilti(“anvil”), from Proto-West Germanic *anafalt (compare Middle Dutch anvilte, Low German Anfilts, Anefilt, Old High German anafalz), compound of *ana(“on”) + *falt(“beaten”) (compare German falzen(“to groove, fold, welt”), Swedish dialectal filta(“to beat”)), from Proto-Indo-European *pelh₂-t-(“shaken, beaten”) (compare Old Irish lethar(“leather”), Latin pellō(“to beat, strike”), Ancient Greek πάλλω(pállō, “to toss, brandish”)), enlargement of Proto-Indo-European *pelh₂-(“to stir, move”). More at felon.
etymonline
anvil (n.)
Old English anfilt "anvil," a Proto-Germanic compound (cognates: Middle Dutch anvilt, Old High German anafalz, Dutch aanbeeld, Danish ambolt "anvil"), apparently representing *ana- "on" (see on (prep.)) + *filtan "to hit" (from PIE root *pel- (5) "to thrust, strike, drive").
The ear bone (incus) is so called from 1680s. Anvil Chorus is based on the "Gypsy Song" that opens Act II of Giuseppe Verdi's opera "Il Trovatore," first performed in Teatro Apollo, Rome, Jan. 19, 1853.
