Bloodmoney

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Money paid to someone for committing murder or causing a death ; money given to the family of a dead person as recompense for their loss
2. A sum offered as reward for killing another person ; compensation paid to bereaved relatives for a death they have suffered
3. Payment given in exchange for carrying out a homicide ; financial settlement provided to a victim's family to acknowledge their bereavement

Etymology: In Old English law, a killer or his kin could pay "blōdfēoh", literally "blood-fee," to the victim's family to prevent a blood feud. The Anglo-Saxon system of compensation, known as wergild, put a price on every life, and blood-fee was the payment for bloodshed. The idea was a settlement between families, not a crime. The sense of payment for a death shifted over time. In the New Testament, the thirty pieces of silver Judas receives for betraying Jesus are called "the price of blood" in Matthew 27, and English later rendered this idea as "blood money." The phrase now usually means money paid to someone who kills for hire or who causes a death for gain.