Showing results for "kenning"

• present participle of ken.

kenning

American  

[ken-ing] / ˈkɛn ɪŋ /

noun

1. a conventional poetic phrase used for or in addition to the usual name of a person or thing, especially in Icelandic and Anglo-Saxon verse, as “a wave traveler” for “a boat.”

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kenning British  

/ ˈkɛnɪŋ /

noun

1. a conventional metaphoric name for something, esp in Old Norse and Old English poetry, such as Old English bānhūs (bone house) for "body"

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Etymology

Origin of kenning

First recorded in 1880–85; from Old Norse: literally “teaching, doctrine, poetic periphrasis”; see origin at ken, -ing ¹

Explanation

A kenning, in literature, is a word or phrase that is a metaphor for something simpler. Calling a ship a "sea-steed," for example, is a kenning. You're most likely to hear the term kenning in a literature class, especially if you happen to be studying Old Norse or Old English poetry. It's part of both literary traditions to use figurative language — often in the form of a compound word or a phrase — to represent a simple word. In Old Norse, a typical kenning is "sun of the houses" for "fire." The root is the Old Norse kenna, "know, recognize, or perceive."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

kenning

Bell: And so say I: Though, kenning only Peter, I’m inclined To fancy Jim may be the better man.

From Krindlesyke by Wilfrid Wilson Gibson

Judith: What’s kenning got to do with love?

From Krindlesyke by Wilfrid Wilson Gibson

I asked, maybe a kenning sharper than ordinary.

From Bog-Myrtle and Peat Tales Chiefly of Galloway Gathered from the Years 1889 to 1895 by S. R. (Samuel Rutherford) Crockett

I thocht on this, for his voice was mournfu', though I couldna understand the words; and, kenning he was a stranger in a far land, my bowels yearned within me with compassion towards him.

From Amusing Prose Chap Books by Various

The antiquity of part at least of this story is proved by the kenning “Hagbard's collar” for halter, in a poem probably of the tenth century.

From The Edda, Volume 2 The Heroic Mythology of the North, Popular Studies in Mythology, Romance, and Folklore, No. 13 by L. Winifred Faraday