The story
Formed from versi- ‘turning, changing’ (combinatory form of Latin versus ‘turn’) + ultimately Latin pellis ‘skin’. (Used initially as a word of unknown origin in Nathaniel Ward's Discolliminium, or A Most Obedient Reply to a Late Book called 'Bounds and Bonds' By B.) By surface analysis, Latin vers- + -i- + Latin pell- + -ous.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.