retheness

The story

1. Old English · inherited fromrēþnes“fierceness, rage, cruelty, severity, zeal, savageness, ferocity, harshness, storminess”
2. Middle English · inherited fromrethnes
3. English todayretheness

From Middle English rethnes, from Old English rēþnes (“fierceness, rage, cruelty, severity, zeal, savageness, ferocity, harshness, storminess”), equivalent to rethe + -ness. Cognate with Scots rethnas (“retheness”).