What is a kenning for ocean?

What is a kenning for ocean?

Bed of fish, smooth path of ships, island-ring, realm of lobsters, slopes of the sea-king, whale-house, land of the ocean-noise, blood of the earth, frothing beer of the coastline… This is just a small clutch of examples from a vast hoard of phrases Viking and Anglo- Saxon poets used to refer to the sea.

What is a Kenning for dog?

A dog kennings poem could be: Cat-chaser, Bone-chewer, Hole-digger, Lead-puller, Face-licker, Tail-wagger, Puddle-maker, Stick-bringer.

Why is a kenning called a kenning?

kenning, concise compound or figurative phrase replacing a common noun, especially in Old Germanic, Old Norse, and Old English poetry. A kenning is commonly a simple stock compound such as “whale-path” or “swan road” for “sea,” “God’s beacon” for “sun,” or “ring-giver” for “king.”

Why are Kennings called Kennings?

What does kenning stand for?

A kenning (Old Norse kenning [cʰɛnːiŋɡ], Modern Icelandic [cʰɛnːiŋk]) is a circumlocution, an ambiguous or roundabout figure of speech, used instead of an ordinary noun in Old Norse, Old English, and later Icelandic poetry.

What are the two parts of a kenning?

Kennings in Depth. The two words that make up a kenning are called the “base word” and the “determinant”: The base word stands-in for the referent, and shares a metaphoric (though not always immediately evident) similarity with the referent.

What is an example of a kenning in Old English?

The examples below are all from different Old English poems. Kennings are used prolifically throughout Beowulf, one of the oldest surviving works of literature in Old English. In this passage, the compound phrase “battle-sweat” is used as a kenning for blood.

What is an example of kennings in the seafarer?

Kennings in “The Seafarer” Another Old English poem, “The Seafarer” makes use of kennings like “whale’s path” and “whale-road” to describe the sea. And now my spirit twists out of my breast,