What does wergild mean?
Wergild is a chiefly historical legal term for money paid as compensation for the killing of a person. It is especially associated with Anglo-Saxon law, in which the family of someone who had committed a killing might be required to compensate the victim's family or kin. The payment was intended to restore order and compensate those who had suffered a loss, rather than serving simply as punishment imposed by a modern criminal court. Wergild is therefore closely related in meaning to blood money, though that modern expression can also refer more broadly to a payment made in connection with a death. Today, the word is most often encountered in discussions of medieval Germanic law, customary justice, and the historical development of legal responsibility. Its combination of an ordinary word for payment with a specific historical institution makes it a concise and memorable example of how legal vocabulary preserves older social practices.
nounA payment of money made as compensation for the killing of a person, especially under Anglo-Saxon law; blood money.
- Money paid as compensation for a killing, especially under Anglo-Saxon law; blood money.
"Under Anglo-Saxon law, the slayer's family could be required to pay wergild to the victim's kin."
"The settlement required the slayer's family to pay wergild to the victim's relatives."
"Historians discuss the role of wergild in maintaining order before the modern criminal justice system."
Usually countable when referring to individual payments, though it is also used as a mass noun for the practice or institution of paying blood money.
"The records list several wergilds paid by the families of those responsible for the killings."
Before courts focused on punishment, an ancient legal system made the killer's family pay the victim's family.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of wergild
Wergild comes from Old English wergild, a compound formed from wer, meaning “man” or “person,” and gild, meaning “payment” or “money.” Both elements reflect broader Germanic roots: wer relates to the Proto-Germanic word for a human being, while gild is cognate with guild and, at a more distant level, gold. The compound developed in the context of early Germanic legal custom, where compensation for injury or death was an important part of social obligation.
How wergild is actually used
Wergild is chiefly a historical, legal, and scholarly term rather than everyday vocabulary. In modern discussion, it often evokes Anglo-Saxon and medieval Germanic law, while the expression blood money conveys its connection with compensation for taking a life.
Easily confused with wergild
Weregild is an alternative spelling of wergild and refers to the same historical or legal concept.