vent

From Middle Dutch vent (“hero; man”). Unknown earlier origin. Compare West Frisian feint (“servant; fellow; boyfriend”), Low German Fent (“young fellow”), Saterland Frisian Wäänt (“boy, lad”). * Possibly from Proto-West Germanic *fanþijō (“walker, walking”), from Proto-Indo-European *pent- (“to go, pass”). This would make it related to Dutch vinden (“to find; (archaic) to explore”) and cognate to Old High German fendo (“footsoldier”) and Old English fēþa (“footsoldier”). The expected descendant in Dutch would have been vend(e), which existed in Middle Dutch as vende (“pawn in a chess game; farmer”). Final-obstruent devoicing is common in Dutch and was already widespread in Old Dutch, rendering vent as a variant of vend(e) possible (compare zat). * Possibly a shortening of vennoot (“partner (in a company)”), which is equivalent to a compound of veem (“(storage) company”) + genoot (“companion, partner”), but there is no evidence of an overlap in senses.