Etymology

cp. OIcel andi 'breath, breathing, spirit'. ME ande in the sense 'breath' as opposed to identical forms meaning 'malice, hatred, envy, etc.' is best explained as a semantic loan from the Scandinavian cognate of the OE n. denoting strong emotion anda 'malice, envy, hatred, zeal'.  Both derive from PGmc *anđon (cp. further OS ando 'breath', OHG anto 'zeal'). The comparatively late attestation for this widespread meaning of such a common n. argues against postulating an unattested sense 'breath' in OE. 

PGmc Ancestor

*anđon

Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)

andi 'breath, breathing, spirit'
(ONP andi (sb.))

Other Scandinavian Reflexes

Far andi, Icel andi, Norw ande, Dan ånde, OSw ande, Sw ande, anda

OE Cognate

anda 'malice, envy, hatred, zeal'

Phonological and morphological markers

Summary category

C3

Attestation

This sense of the n. is first attested in a1300(a1250) Bestiary (Arun 292)  and thereafter common and widespread.

Occurrences in the Gersum Corpus

WA 749, 4000, 4813

Bibliography

MED ōnde (n.2) , OED ande (n.) , HTOED , Bj/ 8, 200, de Vries andi, Mag. andi (1), Orel *anđon, Kroonen *anadan-, DOE anda, anoþa, AEW anda