An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/ahnden

by Friedrich Kluge

ahnden, verb, ‘to punish,’ from Middle High German anden, Old High German antôn, anadôn, ‘to punish, censure,’ allied to Old High German anto, anado, m , ‘insult, embittered feeling, anger.’ It corresponds to Old Saxon ando, ‘exasperation, anger,’ Anglo-Saxon anda, oneþa, ‘zeal, vexation, hatred,’ whence andian, ‘to be angry’; moreover, Gothic preserves in uz-anan, ‘to die,’ the root an, ‘to breathe, respire, snort,’ which appears in these words. Compare Old Icelandic ande, masculine, ‘breath, spirit,’ ǫnd, feminine, ‘breath, soul'; and also Anglo-Saxon êðian, ‘to breathe' (implying Gothic *anþjôn), Anglo-Saxon oruþ, ‘breath' (Gothic *uzanþ), orþian, ‘to breathe,’ Old Icelandic ørendi, ‘breathlessness.’ The root an, preserved in all the cognates, is Old Aryan, and means ‘to breathe’; compare Latin animus, anima, Greek ἄνεμος, connected with the Aryan root an, ‘to breathe, respire.' — ahnden, verb, ‘to forebode’; see ahnen.