wergeld

English

noun
Definitions
  • (historical) blood Blood money, the monetary value assigned to a person, set according to their rank, used to determine the compensation paid by the perpetrator of a crime to the victim in the case of injury or to the victim's kindred in the case of homicide.
  • (historical) Compensation thus determined and paid; a reparative payment.

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English wergeld inherited from Old English wergeld (compensation for a man killed) inherited from *werageld compound from English wer (man) + English geld (money, payment, castrate).

Origin

English

geld

Gloss

money, payment, castrate

Concept
Semantic Field

Possession

Ontological Category

Person/Thing

Kanji

Emoji
🏦 💰️ 💳️ 💴 💵 💶 💷 💸 💹 🤑 🧧 🪙

Timeline

Distribution of cognates by language

Geogrpahic distribution of cognates

Cognates and derived terms