From OE 'gylt' (crime, debt), possibly from Proto-Germanic *geldaną (to pay) — guilt as a moral debt owed for wrongdoing.
The fact of having committed a specified offense; a feeling of having done wrong or failed in an obligation.
From Old English 'gylt' (crime, sin, fault, fine, debt), of uncertain further origin but likely connected to Old English 'gieldan' (to pay, to yield, to render), from Proto-Germanic *geldaną (to pay, to be worth), from PIE *gʰeldʰ- (to pay, to compensate). If this connection holds, guilt is etymologically a 'debt' — a moral obligation owed for wrongdoing. The semantic chain runs: payment → obligation → fault → moral culpability. Old English distinguished 'gylt' (the offense or debt) from 'scyld' (the subjective feeling of blame
'Guilt' may share its root with 'yield' and German 'Geld' (money) — all possibly from Proto-Germanic *geldaną (to pay). If so, guilt is etymologically a debt: wrongdoing puts you in moral arrears. The legal phrase 'paying one's debt to society' preserves exactly this ancient metaphor of crime as unpaid obligation.