Were

Were and wer are archaic terms for adult male humans and were often used for alliteration with wife as "were and wife" in Germanic-speaking cultures^[1] (Old English: wer, Old Dutch: wer, Gothic: waír, Old Frisian: wer, Old Saxon: wer, Old High German: wer, Old Norse: verr).

In Anglo-Saxon law wer was the value of a man's life. He could be required to pay his wer to the king as a penalty for crime.^[2] If he was murdered then his relatives were entitled to his wergild as compensation from the murderer.

^ Rauer, Christine (January 2017). "Mann and Gender in Old English Prose: A Pilot Study". Neophilologus. 101 (1): 139–158. doi:10.1007/s11061-016-9489-1. hdl:10023/8978. S2CID 55817181.
^ Molyneaux, George (2015). The Formation of the English Kingdom in the Tenth Century. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. p. 72. ISBN 978-0-19-871791-1.

[1] Rauer, Christine (January 2017). "Mann and Gender in Old English Prose: A Pilot Study". Neophilologus. 101 (1): 139–158. doi:10.1007/s11061-016-9489-1. hdl:10023/8978. S2CID 55817181.

[2] Molyneaux, George (2015). The Formation of the English Kingdom in the Tenth Century. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. p. 72. ISBN 978-0-19-871791-1.

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