were gild

A form of wergeld — 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; such a reparative payment or compensation.

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Meanings

nounwere gild (plural were gilds)

plural were gilds

  1. alternativeAlternative form of wergeld.
    1 more example

    But these modern statutes in Ohio and the Southern States, making towns responsible in a definite sum to the kin of a murdered man, are the exact re-enactment of the early Anglo-Saxon law; except that the blood damages -- the were gild--- were in those days put upon the neighbors or the kin of the enemy.

    1912, Frederic Jesup Stimson, Popular Law-making, →ISBN
Cite this entry
APA

were gild. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/were%20gild

MLA

“were gild.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/were%20gild. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “were gild,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/were%20gild.

Source: were gild on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.