Distress
Middle English: from Old French destresce (noun), destrecier (verb), based on Latin distringere ‘stretch apart’.
wiktionary
The verb is from Middle English distressen, from Old French destrecier(“to restrain, constrain, put in straits, afflict, distress”); compare French détresse. Ultimately from Medieval Latin as if *districtiare, an assumed frequentative form of Latin distringere(“to pull asunder, stretch out”), from dis-(“apart”) + stringere(“to draw tight, strain”).
The noun is from Middle English distresse, from Old French destrece, ultimately also from Latin distringere.
etymonline
distress (n.)
late 13c., "circumstance that causes anxiety or hardship," from Old French destresse (Modern French détresse), from Vulgar Latin *districtia "restraint, affliction, narrowness, distress," from Latin districtus, past participle of distringere "draw apart, hinder," also, in Medieval Latin "compel, coerce," from dis- "apart" (see dis-) + stringere "draw tight, press together" (see strain (v.)). Meaning "anguish; grief; pain or suffering of the body or mind" is from c. 1300.
distress (v.)
late 14c., distressen, "constrain or compel by pain, suffering, or other circumstances; harass," from Old French destresser "restrain, constrain; afflict, distress," from Vulgar Latin *districtiare "restraint, affliction, narrowness, distress," from Latin districtus, past participle of distringere "draw apart, hinder," also, in Medieval Latin "compel, coerce," from dis- "apart" (see dis-) + stringere "draw tight, press together" (see strain (v.)).
From c. 1400 as "afflict with mental or physical pain, make miserable." From early 15c. as "to damage;" specifically "damage a piece of furniture to make it appear older (and thus more valuable)" by 1926.
My particular job is "distressing" new furniture—banging, hammering and knocking it to give it the wear of time. This is not so easy a task as it seems. The smallest mistake may make all your work useless. In high-class "antiques" such as we carry, you have to satisfy not only the average person but people who go in for furniture as a hobby. ["It's a Wise Man Who Knows a Real Antique," Popular Science Monthly, June 1926]
