legal-terms
What semantic notions underlie &#39;replevir&#39; with the property tort &#39;replevin&#39;?
<p><a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/replevin" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Etymonline:</a></p>

<blockquote>
  <p>[4.] recovery of goods (by someone) taken from him, upon posting of security," mid-15c.,<br>
  [3.] from Anglo-French <em>replevin</em> (14c.) and Anglo-Latin (13c.) <em>replevina</em>,<br>
  [2.] from Old French <em>replevir</em> (v.) "to pledge, protect, warrant,"<br>
  [1.] from <em>re-</em> "back, again" (see <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/re-?ref=etymonline_crossreference" rel="nofollow noreferrer">re-</a>) + <em>plevir</em>, of uncertain origin; perhaps related to <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/pledge?ref=etymonline_crossreference" rel="nofollow noreferrer">pledge</a> (v.).<br>
  The corresponding verb is replevy (1550s).</p>
</blockquote>

<p>What semantic notions can explain the semantic specialization of meaning from 2 to 4?</p>

<p>The possessor doesn't possess, and so can't "pledge, protect, warrant", the good that she must recover from the tortfeasor.</p>

<p>One possibility is that a security interest in tangible personal property is sometimes called a "pledge", and a re-pledge would return property subject to a chattle mortgage to the original pledgor undoing the original pledge. (Most replevin actions are brought to retake collateral or leased property.)</p>

<p>Another possibility, suggested by sense (4) in the original post, is that the original reference could have been to the posting of a bond as security for the action to retake the tangible personal property.</p>

<p>Of course, in modern legal parlance, replevin is a root word with no other underlying semantic meaning than its technical legal meaning.</p>
