'Consequence' is Latin for 'following together' — what walks alongside every action you take.
A result or effect of an action or condition; importance or relevance.
From Old French 'consequence,' borrowed from Latin 'consequentia' (a following after, a sequence, a logical inference), formed from 'consequēns,' the present participle of 'consequī' (to follow together, to follow closely, to result from), composed of 'con-' (together, with) + 'sequī' (to follow). 'Sequī' is a deponent verb from PIE *sekw- (to follow, to accompany), the root that also produced 'sequence,' 'sequel,' 'second' (that which follows first), 'sect' (a body of followers), 'suit,' and Greek 'hepesthai' (to follow). A consequence is literally 'that which follows together with' an action — the result that accompanies a cause. The logical sense, the conclusion
The phrase 'of consequence' meaning 'of importance' preserves an older English sense: a person of consequence was someone whose actions had follow-on effects, whose decisions mattered because they produced results. 'Inconsequential' — without consequences — came to mean 'unimportant,' because things that produce no effects don't matter.
Words closest in meaning, ranked by similarity