An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/gönnen

by Friedrich Kluge

gönnen, verb, ‘to grant, not to begrudge, wish well to,’ from Middle High German gunnen, Old High German giunnan, ‘to grant willingly, bestow, allow’; Old High German and Old Saxon mostly unnan, in the same sense (in Old High German and Middle High German pret.-pres.); compare Dutch gunnen, Anglo-Saxon unnan, Old Icelandic unna, The root is an; whether this is allied to Latin amare, ‘to love,’ or to Greek ὀνίνημι, ‘I use,’ or to the cognates of ahnden, is uncertain on account of its meaning; most probably Greek προσ-ηνής, ‘inclined,’ and ἀπηνής ‘disaffected,’ are allied primitively. Compare Gunst.