What does wergeld mean?
Wergeld is a historical legal term for compensation, especially money paid to the family of a person who had been killed. In early medieval Germanic societies, the obligation commonly fell on the killer or the killer's kindred, making wergeld part of a system in which the harm caused by a death could be compensated through negotiated payment. More broadly, the term referred to legal compensation for death or injury. Today, wergeld is mainly encountered in history, law, and discussions of medieval justice. It is also sometimes connected with the expression "blood money," although that modern phrase can instead refer to a criminal bounty or an illicit payment. Wergeld is valuable because it reveals an important historical approach to wrongdoing: legal liability could be framed in terms of compensation owed to affected families. Its Old English ancestry also makes it a striking example of how ordinary words for people, payment, and money became specialized legal vocabulary.
nounIn early medieval Germanic law, wergeld was compensation paid to the family of someone who had been killed, usually by the killer or the killer's kindred. More broadly, it referred to legal compensation for causing another's death or injury.
- Compensation paid to the family of a murdered person by the killer or the killer's kindred under early medieval Germanic law.
- A broader legal compensation for causing another's death or injury, especially in historical Germanic legal systems.
"Under Anglo-Saxon law, the killer's family could pay wergeld to the victim's kin."
"Under Anglo-Saxon law, the killer's family could pay wergeld to the victim's kin."
"The study compares wergeld with analogous compensation systems across medieval Europe."
The noun is normally used as a mass noun, especially when referring to compensation as a legal institution. Plural forms are rare.
"The chronicle records several wergelds paid by different families."
Wergeld literally meant "payment for a man," turning a killing into a negotiated legal debt in many medieval Germanic communities.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of wergeld
Wergeld comes from Old English wergild, meaning "payment for a man" or "payment for a person": wer means "man" and gild means "payment." The compound became associated with compensation for killing under early medieval Germanic law. Its second element is related to words such as geld, gild, guild, and gield, which preserve older senses connected with payment, contribution, money, or tribute.
How wergeld is actually used
This is primarily a formal historical and legal term rather than an everyday word. Although wergeld can overlap with the older sense of "blood money," modern use of that expression often means a bounty for information or a payment connected with crime.
Easily confused with wergeld
Weregild is an older spelling variant of wergeld, not a different payment or legal institution.