Etymology Dictionary

ANENT,  regarding, near to, beside.  (E.)   Nearly obsolete, except in Northern English.   M.E. anent, anende, anendes, anentis, &c.   [The forms anendes, anentis, were made by adding the suffix -es, -is, orig. the sign of a gen. case, but frequently used as an adverbial suffix.]   Anent is a contraction of anefent, or onefent, which occurs in the Ancren Riwle, p. 164, as another reading for anonde.  In this form, the t is excrescent, as commonly after n (cf. tyrant, ancient), and the true form is anefen or onefen.—A.S. on-efen, prep. near; sometimes written on-emn, by contraction; Grein, i. 218, 225.—A.S. on, prep. in, and efen, even, equal; so that on-efen meant originally 'on an equality with,' or 'even with.'   See Even.   ¶ The cognate G. neben, beside, is similarly derived from G. in, in, and eben, even; and, to complete the analogy, was sometimes spelt nebent.   See Mätzner, Wörterbuch; Stratmann, Old Eng. Dict., s.v. anefen, and esp. Koch, Engl. Gramm. v. ii. p. 389.