Etymology

The name Enchelei is thought to have meant "eel people", as in Ancient Greek ??????? means "eel", like in modern Albanian ngjalë "eel" < Illyrian *engella, possibly cognates to "eel" and "eel". The connection with Albanian ngjalë makes it possible that the name Enchele was derived from the Illyrian term for eels, which may have been anciently related to Greek and simply adjusted to the Greek pronunciation. An Indo-European pre-form of the root still can not be reconstructed. For this reason, Robert S. P. Beekes considers it Pre-Greek, which matches the timeframe of an early Illyrian origin of the ethnonym through the legendary story of Cadmus and the Enchelei.