Etymology Dictionary

ANNOY,  to hurt, vex, trouble.  (F.,—L.)   M.E. anoien, anuien (with one n, correctly), to vex, trouble.   See Alisaunder, ed. Weber, ll. 876, 1287, 4158; Havelok, 1734; Chaucer's Boethius, pp. 22, 41.   [The sb. anoi, anoy was also in very common use; see Romaunt of the Rose, 4404; Ayenbite of Inwyt, p. 267, &c.; but is now obsolete, and its place to some extent supplied by annoyance and the F. ennui.]—O.F. anoier, anuier, enuier, verb, to annoy, trouble; formed from the O.F. sb. anoi, anui, enui (mod. F. ennui), annoyance, vexation, chagrin; cognate with Span. enojo, Old Venetian inodio.—Lat. in odio, lit. in hatred, which was used in the phrase in odio habui, lit. I had in hatred, i.e. I was sick and tired of, occurring in the Glosses of Cassel, temp. Charles the Great; see Brachet and Diez.   Other phrases were the Lat. in odio esse and in odio uenire, both meaning to incur hatred, and used by Cicero; see Att. ii. 21. 2.   ¶ The account in Diez is quite satisfactory, and generally accepted.   It proves that the O.F. sb. anoi arose from the use of Lat. in odio in certain common idiomatic phrases and that the O.F. verb anoier was formed from the sb.   See Odium and Noisome.   Der. annoy-ance; from O.F. anoiance, a derivative of vb. anoier.