anent

English

Etymology

From Middle English anent, anempt (“in comparison with, concerning, in the opinion of; close to, against”), from Old English on efn (“by; near”), from on +‎ efn. Compare Dutch neven, German neben.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /əˈnɛnt/

• Audio (Southern England):

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• Audio (US):

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• Rhymes: -ɛnt

Preposition

anent

1. (now rare) Concerning, with regard to, about, in respect to, as to, insofar as, inasmuch as, apropos.

   Synonyms: apropos, as for; see also Thesaurus:about

   • 1922 February 2, James Joyce, “[Episode 16]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLC:

     Mr Bloom and Stephen entered the cabman’s shelter, an unpretentious wooden structure, where, prior to then, he had rarely, if ever, been before; the former having previously whispered to the latter a few hints anent the keeper of it […]

   • 1937, L. Ron Hubbard, letter to Russell Hays, quoted in Literary Correspondence: Letters and Journals, p. 101,

     I have just found out something with which to repay that very kind favor of yours anent the "lift" angle on stories.

   • 1955 September 15, Vladimir Nabokov, chapter 11, in Lolita, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: G[eorge] P[almer] Putnam’s Sons, published August 1958, →OCLC, part 1, page 53:

     The wings of the driver's Marlenesque nose shone, having shed or burned up their ration of powder, and she kept up an elegant monologue anent the local traffic, […]

   • 1984, New York Times:

     This question remains a vital consideration anent the debate over the possibility of limiting nuclear war to military objectives, […]

   • 2015, LT Wolf, The World King (fiction), →ISBN:

     The invasion of privacy anent banking and financial activities was mainly an outcome of the income tax and the Drug War

2. (obsolete) In the opinion or judgment of.
3. (obsolete) Against, in front of, fronting; before; opposite; over against, on the other side.
   • 2005, R.T. Smith, “Ina Grove”, in The Virginia Quarterly Review, volume 81, number 4, page 230:

     […] if Painter did ever abide in the old bark mill said to be anent his brother's freehold.

4. (obsolete) In a line with; side by side with; on a level with.
   • 1865, William Stott Banks, Wakefield Words, page 4:

     ANENT, opposite. Usually "ovver-anent."

Derived terms

• thereanent
• whereanent

References

• Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
• “anent”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• annet

Middle English

Alternative forms

• anente
• anond, anonde, anonden, anont, onefent, onevent, ononden (Early Middle English, West Midland); onon, onond, onont (AB language)
• anemt (Leicestershire); anende (North Midland); anante (Southern, Southwest Midland); anont, a-nont (West Midland)
• a-nente (County Durham); enent, inent (especially Yorkshire)

Etymology

Inherited from Old English on emn, on efn, from Proto-West Germanic *in ebn; equivalent to on (“on”) +‎ even (“flat”).

Notes on formal development

• Excrescent final /t/ was reinforced by metanalysis of following articles or determiners such as þe, þis; forms with /d/ are likely influenced by ende (“ende”) (compare anende), and /t/ may represent devoicing of this in at least some instances.
• Final -e probably reflects the adverbial suffix -e in texts where it where it reliably indicates /ə/.
• The origin of forms with /an/ (West Midland /ɔn/) is unclear; Colborn posits the influence of Old Norse jamt (“evenly”) (for West Midland /ɔn/ for Old Norse /ɑn/, compare wanten), but Dance instead suggests remodelling after and-. Another possibility is it reflects an exceptional Southwestern and West Midland development of Old English /em/, /en/ in a labial environment; panewes (“pennies”) and Tamese (“Thames”) are attested in the relevant dialects.
• Northern Middle English enent, inent possibly continue a Northumbrian Old English *in efn, avoiding the replacement of in with on characteristic of West Saxon. The OED's suggestion that they reflect the influence of y- is problematised by the relative rarity of that prefix in Northern Middle English.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /aˈnɛnt/
• IPA^(key): /aˈnant/ (Southern), /aˈnɔnt/ (West Midland)
• IPA^(key): /ɛˈnɛnt/, /i-/ (Yorkshire)

Preposition

anent (especially Northern, North Midland, West Midland)

1. Adjacent, close to, next to:
   1. Against, in front of, opposite.
   2. Among; in the company of.
2. Concerning, regarding, with respect to.
3. In the opinion of, according to.
4. (rare) In comparison with, compared with.

Derived terms

• anentes

Descendants

• English: anent
• Middle Scots: anent
  • Scots: anent, 'nent

References

• “anent(es, prep.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
• “anent, prep. & adv..”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
• “anent, prep.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC, reproduced from William A[lexander] Craigie, A[dam] J[ack] Aitken [et al.], editors, A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue: […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1931–2002, →OCLC.
• Dance, Richard (October 2001), “Two Difficult Words in 'AB'”, in Neophilologus‎^[1], volume 85, Springer Science+Business Media, →DOI, →ISSN, →OCLC, pages 637-641.
• Zettersten, Arne (1965), “onont (prep.)”, in Studies in the dialect and vocabulary of the Ancrene Riwle (Lund Studies in English; 34)‎^[2], Lund: C. W. K. Gleerup, →OCLC, page 35.

Scots

Etymology

Inherited from Middle Scots anent, from Middle English anent, anempt (“in comparison with, concerning, in the opinion of; close to, against”), from Old English onemn (“by; near”); equivalent to modern in + even. Compare Dutch neven, German neben.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [əˈnɛnt]
• (Mid Northern Scots) IPA^(key): [əˈnænt]

Preposition

anent

1. in a line with, on a level with, alongside of
2. before the face of, in the presence of (of persons)
3. fronting, opposite, over against (of position)
4. concerning, about

Derived terms

• foreanent (“over against, opposite to; on the opposite side”)
• hereanent (“concerning”)
• thareanent (“the matter already mentioned, relating to what has been said above”)

Adverb

anent (not comparable)

1. in front, opposite