Note 421 — Chapter VI · VILLAGE FESTIVALS
Reading edition
Dr. Murray kindly informs me that the etymology of withershins (A.-S. wiþersynes) is uncertain. It is from wiþer, ‘against,’ and either some lost noun, or one derived from séon, ‘to see,’ or sinþ, ‘course.’ The original sense is simply ‘backwards,’ and the equivalence with deasil not earlier than the seventeenth century. A folk-etymology from shine may account for the aspirate.