wer

wer — noun

1. In Anglo-Saxon and early Germanic law, the fixed monetary value set on a person'

1.名詞C2
釋義

In Anglo-Saxon and early Germanic law, the fixed monetary value set on a person's life, which the killer's family had to pay to the victim's relatives as compensation in order to end the dispute and prevent a blood feud.

例句

Under King Alfred's laws, a nobleman's wer was 300 shillings, while a freeman's wer was 200 shillings.

collocation: set the wer at [amount in shillings]

Neither family accepted the proposed wer, so village elders had to negotiate a compromise.

同義詞
  • wergild

    the same concept expressed as a compound of 'wer' (man) + 'gild' (payment); 'wergild' is more common in modern historical writing

  • blood money

    a broader, less precise term that can refer to any payment for a killing, not only the formal Anglo-Saxon legal valuation

用法筆記

This term is now archaic and appears almost exclusively in historical writing about Anglo-Saxon and Germanic law. The compound form 'wergild' (also spelled 'wergeld' or 'weregild') is slightly more common than the standalone word 'wer'.

常見錯誤

❌The family paid a wer to the king as a fine for the killing.
✅The family paid the wer to the victim's relatives to avoid a blood feud.
💡The wer compensated the victim's family, not the king; the separate fine paid to the king was called the wite.