Etymology

withername

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Today it means: A second or reciprocal distress of other goods in lieu of goods which were taken by a first distress and have been eloigned; a taking by way of reprisal Full definition →

Old English wiþernām ← Old Norse viðrnam
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The story

  1. Old Norse · derived fromviðrnam
  2. Old English · inherited fromwiþernām“seizure”
  3. English todaywithername

From Middle English, from Old English wiþernām (“seizure”, literally “a take-back”), from Old Norse viðrnam, equivalent to wither- (“against”) + nim. More at wither, nim.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.