'anguillaria' originates from Latin, specifically the word 'anguillāria,' where 'anguilla' meant 'eel' and the suffix '-āria' denoted 'a place for or connected with.'

'anguillāria' was a Latin term used in Roman contexts for eel tanks and enclosures; it entered English in antiquarian and scholarly use in the 18th–19th centuries as a learned borrowing, becoming the modern English word 'anguillaria'.

Initially, it meant 'a place for keeping eels,' and this specialized sense has largely remained unchanged in modern usage.