PRONUNCIATION:
(KEN-ing) 
MEANING:
noun: A figurative, usually compound, expression used to describe something. For example, whale road for an ocean andoar steed for a ship.
ETYMOLOGY:
From Old Norse kenna (to know). Ultimately from the Indo-European root gno- (to know), which is also the source of know, recognize, acquaint, ignore, diagnosis, notice, normal,prosopagnosia, gnomon, anagnorisis, and agnosia. Earliest documented use: 1320. Kennings were used especially in Old Norse and Old English poetry.
USAGE:
“The hero, Beewolf (a kenning for bear, named the ‘bee wolf’ for its plundering of hives), heads to the Golden Hall.”
John Garth; Monster Munch; New Statesman (London, UK); May 30, 2014.
“In the dawn of the English language the earliest poets or scops invented words like ‘battleflash’ to describe a sword, or they would identify a boat by its function with a kenning like ‘wave-skimmer’.”
Samuel Hazo; What’s in a Name?; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; Feb 17, 2008.
See more usage examples of kenning in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.
John Garth; Monster Munch; New Statesman (London, UK); May 30, 2014.
“In the dawn of the English language the earliest poets or scops invented words like ‘battleflash’ to describe a sword, or they would identify a boat by its function with a kenning like ‘wave-skimmer’.”
Samuel Hazo; What’s in a Name?; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; Feb 17, 2008.
See more usage examples of kenning in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.
A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Invention requires an excited mind; execution, a calm one. -Johann Peter Eckermann, poet
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