Kenning
In literature, a kenning is a compound poetic phrase substituted for the usual name of a person or thing. For example the sea in Old English could be called seġl-rād 'sail-road', swan-rād 'swan-road', bæþ-weġ 'bath-way' or hwæl-weġ 'whale-way'. In line 10 of the epic Beowulf the sea is called the hronrāde or 'whale-road'.
The word is derived from the Old Norse phrase kenna eitt við, "to express a thing in terms of another", and is prevalent throughout Norse, Old English and Celtic literature. Kennings are especially associated with the practice of alliterative verse, where they tend to become traditional fixed formulas.
A list of kennings may be consulted for reference purposes.
A notable peculiarity of kennings is the possibility to construct complicated kenning strings by means of consecutive substitution. For example, those who are keen in kenning readily know that slaughter dew worm dance is battle, since slaughter dew is blood, blood worm is sword, and sword dance is battle.
Another kind of wordplay is based on the inversion of kennings. For example, if sword dance is battle and spear-din is another kenning for battle, then sword may easily become "spear-din dancer".
The word "ken" is used commonly in Scots and the North of England in describing what a person knows about something (compare German etw./jmd. kennen = to know sth./sb.), or what they see, especially when seafaring. The application of this word is a relic of the importance of kennings in the olden times. For instance, if somebody queried the happenings of the North Sea, of a lighthouse resident, the watcher would say they are kenning this or that. The root word is derived from the "k" rune, pronounced similarly.
A kenning is also an old measure of volume in the Imperial system, equal to two pecks or half of one bushel.See also