wergild
|wer-gild|
🇺🇸
/ˈwɝɡɪld/
🇬🇧
/ˈwɜːɡɪld/
payment for a person's life/value
Etymology
'wergild' originates from Old English, specifically the word 'werġild' (or 'wergild'), where 'wer' meant 'man' and 'gild' meant 'payment' or 'tribute'.
'wergild' reflects an Old English compound formed from 'wer' + 'gild'; both elements go back to Proto-Germanic (cf. Old High German 'wergeld', Old Norse 'vergi ld' variants), and the term survived into Middle English largely unchanged as the legal concept.
Initially, it meant 'payment for a man' (literally a man's price), and over time the term retained that sense but came to be used more broadly for stipulated compensations paid to resolve killings or feuds.
Meanings by Part of Speech
Noun 1
a value placed on a person (typically in early Germanic law) that must be paid as compensation for murder or bodily injury to the victim's family.
In Anglo-Saxon law the murderer was required to pay a wergild to the victim's kin.
Synonyms
Noun 2
by extension, any stipulated compensation paid to settle a killing, injury, or feud and to prevent further vengeance.
The payment served as a wergild to prevent a blood feud from continuing.
Synonyms
Last updated: 2025/08/30 02:37