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The concepts appear similar, but "blood money" has been in use for a long time: > Blood money is from 1530s; originally money paid for causing the death of ano

• thaumasiotes 8y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_money_(restitution) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_money_(restitution) > Blood money is, colloquially, the reward for bringing a criminal to justice. > A common meaning in other contexts is the money-penalty paid by a murderer to the kinsfolk of the victim. These fines completely protect the offender (or the kinsfolk thereof) from the vengeance of the injured family. The system was common among Germanic peoples before the introduction of Christianity (weregild) The concepts of "money you pay as a penalty for killing someone" and "money a third party pays you as a reward for killing someone" aren't really similar in the slightest.
  • lotophage 8y ago
    The very first sentence is: > Blood money, also called bloodwit, is money or some sort of compensation paid by an offender (usually a murderer) or his/her family group to the family or kin group of the victim.
    • thaumasiotes 8y ago
      Given that the page primarily defines "blood money" as "the reward for bringing a criminal to justice" as well as being weregild, it doesn't seem like strong evidence that weregild is the primary sense of the word. (Strong evidence for that would be hard to find, as it isn't true.)