Kennings
Kennings are circumlocutions where two nouns (as a compound or genitive(s)) refer to a third, unspoken noun. Elements can be substituted with further kennings. There are around 10,000 kennings in the corpus, most of which are unique. This is a list of the kennings in the published volumes, grouped according to Meissner’s categories where applicable.
E.g. (random): linns grundar — ‘of the snake’s land’ = GOLD — in ESk Geisl 32VII
(Referents classified according to Meissner’s categories, where relevant. This list is in progress
and should not be cited.)
- air2
- alcoholic drink30
- arm parts2
- arm, hand103
- armour13
- arrow, spear68
- axe34
- battle835
- beak1
- bear2
- beard1
- bed3
- bellows2
- blood125
- bow2
- breast, chest54
- bull, ox7
- cat2
- cave9
- chieftain, king, leader, lord, prince, ruler396
- claw, talon3
- cloud1
- comb2
- corpse, slain34
- cross12
- cup, vessel11
- day and night2
- death9
- devil4
- duck2
- eagle10
- ears5
- earth, land22
- eel1
- evil-doing, sin, vice4
- eye27
- eyebrows4
- eyelashes3
- falcon, hawk3
- fire-wood1
- fire, flame38
- fish7
- fishing-line2
- fjord1
- flight, flying1
- floor, ground1
- fly1
- foot2
- forehead4
- fox4
- gallows5
- gameboard2
- goat1
- God23
- gold595
- grass2
- grave2
- gravemound1
- grief, sorrow3
- hail2
- hair6
- head57
- headband2
- headdress1
- heart20
- heaven (Christian)248
- heavenly bodies5
- hell (Christian)2
- helmet18
- holy man, saint91
- holy woman24
- horn8
- horse8
- house13
- house-part2
- ice5
- illness1
- iron1
- jaw, jawbone1
- mail-coat41
- male descendant9
- male, man2206
- mankind, people46
- mind, thought16
- moon1
- mountain24
- mouth10
- nose, nostril1
- old age1
- penis2
- pitchfork1
- poet35
- poetry104
- poison1
- rain1
- raven41
- raven/eagle128
- ring24
- rock, stone57
- satiety1
- sausage2
- Scriptures2
- sea292
- sea-snail1
- seaweed1
- serpent, snake80
- sheep2
- shield279
- ship accessories18
- ship, boat441
- shoe4
- shoulder4
- sky/heaven18
- speech, utterance2
- spring1
- storm, wind13
- sun27
- sword466
- tail1
- tears, weeping15
- tongue13
- tooth, teeth7
- tree (m.)2
- water15
- wave21
- weapon19
- whale2
- whetstone2
- wing3
- winter14
- wolf51
- woman575
- wound11
CloseKenning referents
This page gives a list of kenning referents using Meissner’s categories (translated into English) and supplemented with some additional referents not used by Meissner. It excludes kennings with referents that are named beings or persons.
Clicking on an item in the list will give all published kennings under that category.