An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Fehme
Fehme, feminine, ‘criminal tribunal’ (in Westphalia formerly), from Middle High German veime, feminine, ‘condemnation, punishment, secret tribunal,’ Gothic *faima, feminine, would, on the analogy of τέσσαρες, Gothic fidvôr, favour the connection with the root τι in Greek τίνω, ‘to atone for,’ derived from ki, ‘to punish, avenge’; Greek ποίνη, as a derivative of the same root, may have been formed with a different suffix from that which appears in Fehme. In spite of the late formation of the word, its origin is difficult to discover and uncertain. Its connection with Dutch veem, ‘guild, association,’ is also disputed. Others again refer it to Old Saxon a-fêhian, ‘to condemn’ (see feige). It is quite impossible to connect it with an older Low German form, Fehme, ‘oak-mast,’ which, with Bavarian dehme, deehel, ‘oak-mast,’ belongs to a different stem.