Emily Dickinson Lexicon

ANT, v.

in our vulgar dialect, as in the phrases I ānt, you ānt, he ānt, we ānt, &c., is undoubtedly a contraction of the Danish er, ere, the substantive verb, in the present tense of the indicative mode, and not, I er-not, we ere-not, he er-not, or of the Swedish ar, the same verb, infinitive vara, to be. These phrases are doubtless legitimate remains of the Gothic dialect.