From Middle English aferen, from Old English āfǣran, from ā- + fǣran ("to frighten; to devour, raven"), from fǣr ("sudden danger, calamity, ambush; a blitz"), from Proto-Germanic *fērō, from Proto-Indo-European *per-.

afear (afears, present participle afearing; simple past and past participle afeared)

1. (obsolete or dialectal) To imbue with fear; to affright, to terrify.
   • 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act III, scene ii], page 12 ↗, column 2:

     Be not affeard, the Iſle is full of noyſes, / Sounds, and ſweet aires, that giue delight and hurt not.