Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
Wiktionary
n. 1 (context historical in Germanic legal English) blood money, the monetary value assigned to a person, set according to their rank#class, 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. 2 (context historical in Germanic legal English) Compensation thusly determined and paid; a reparative payment.
Usage examples of "wergeld".
The next envelope contained a series of bank documents, evidencing the opening of accounts all in the name of the Wergeld Trust.
I knew that he was a Poole and that he would inherit the whole of the Wergeld Trust and become as rich as he would have been had not our fortune been stolen from us.
The wergeld paid for a killing corresponds to the punishment imposed on a murderer in our system who turns himself in immediately after the deed.
On the morrow they will feel the lash for being there and work out the wergeld to repay the old crone for her daughter.