weregild


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Related to weregild: wergild

wer·geld

 (wûr′gĕld′) also wer·gild or were·gild (-gĭld′)
n.
In Anglo-Saxon and Germanic law, a price set upon a person's life on the basis of rank and paid as compensation by the family of a slayer to the kindred or lord of a slain person to free the culprit of further punishment or obligation and to prevent a blood feud.
[Middle English wargeld, from Old English wergeld : wer, man; see wī-ro- in Indo-European roots + geld, payment.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

weregild, wergild

(in Anglo-Saxon society) a payment made to the family of a slain man by his killer or the killer’s family as compensation, atonement, and to avoid reprisals.
See also: Dues and Payment
-Ologies & -Isms. Copyright 2008 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
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From the Roman model of justice through to the Viking influence of 'Weregild' (where everything had a price - even a human life - which the offender paid to the victim or their family) and increased restrictions and rights following the Magna Carta (1215) and Bill of Rights (1689).
How scourge of knife crime has taken hold of our cities
From the Roman model of justice through to the Viking influence of 'Weregild' (where everything had a price -- even a human life -- which the offender paid to the victim or their family) and increased restrictions and rights following the Magna Carta (1215) and Bill of Rights (1689).
Growing list of Liverpool tragedies shows why knife crime fear is more than 'moral panic'; Hope University's Dr Jennifer Hough addresses the issue of knife crime in Liverpool in a three-part series on the issue, why we should be concerned and how the growth in blade-related trouble could be tackled
In what is probably a further variant, the Volsunga Saga has Fafnir's treasure being gained in the first place by Loki as a weregild, or ransom, for the three Aesir who had killed Otr son of Hreidmar, king of the Dwarves: Odin, Hmnir, and himself.
BILBO BAGGINS AND THE FORTY THIEVES: THE REWORKING OF FOLKTALE MOTIFS IN THE HOBBIT (AND THE LORD OF THE RINGS)

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