c. 1300, neuer þe lesse; as one word from early 14c., neuerþeles. The sense of never here is "not at all; none the," as in unmerged expressions such as never the wiser, never the worse. Middle English also had neverthelater in same sense.
instrument for measuring distances covered by a walker, 1723, from French pédomètre (1712), a hybrid coined from Latin pedis (genitive of pes "foot;" see foot (n.)) + Greek metron "a measure" (see meter (n.2)). At first Englished as waywiser.