4. Other Technical Terms
apo koinou, construction in which the same element has a role in more than one clause
appellative, a common noun as opposed to a proper name
base-word, member of a kenning (see below) that is modified by a qualifier, called the determinant (see below)
cheville, a filler, a word or a phrase of little meaning added to complete a poetic line
cliticise, to add an enclitic syllable to a word (see enclitic below)
desyllabify, desyllabification, syllabic liquids and nasals developing an excrescent vowel, in Icelandic usually involving the addition of [u] before [r]
determinant, qualifier of a base-word in a kenning, consisting either of a noun or name in the genitive or of the first element of a compound
dip, a metrically unstressed syllable
ekphrasis, a poem that describes in words what the poet can see in a visual medium
elision, omission of a sound or sounds within a word or phrase, e.g. where two vowels would stand in hiatus
enclitic, monosyllabic word, usually a particle, verb or pronoun, added as a suffix to another word (see also cliticise)
enclitic position, post-position (as opposed to proclitic position)
epitheton ornans, an adjective used to characterise a person or a thing or used as a descriptive substitute for a person’s name
etymon, an earlier root form of a word from which a later form is derived
extended kenning, a kenning in which one or more determinant (or occasionally the base-word) are themselves kennings (see rekit and tvíkent above); also known as a complex kenning
half-kenning, the base-word of a familiar kenning-type that is not qualified by a determinant
hypermetrical, a poetic line containing more syllables (metrical positions) than is normal for the metre in question
hypometrical, a poetic line containing fewer syllables (metrical positions) than is normal for the metre in question
inverted kenning, an extended kenning (see above) containing a compound whose second element is a base-word, but whose two elements do not in themselves form a kenning, e.g. handa logreifir ‘presenter of the flame of hands [(lit. ‘flame-presenter of hands’) gold > generous man]’, where logreifir is not itself a kenning, but handa log- ‘flame of hands’ is a kenning for ‘gold’ which qualifies ‑reifir ‘presenter’ to give ‘presenter of gold’, hence ‘generous man’
kenning, nominal periphrasis, consisting of a base-word and one or more determinants
lectio difficilior, ‘more difficult reading’, sometimes preferred to a lectio facilior by editors, on the basis that if corruption occurs it is more likely to replace rare usages by common ones than the reverse
lectio facilior, ‘easier reading’, see lectio difficilior
lift, a metrically fully stressed syllable
metonymy, the substitution of a word referring to an attribute or adjunct for the whole thing that is meant
neutralisation, a metrical situation in which two short syllables occupy one unstressed metrical position in a line
nomen actionis, ‘noun of action’, a noun derived from a verb, denoting the action implicit in the verb
nomen agentis, ‘agent noun’, a noun derived from a verb, denoting a person who carries out the action implicit in the verb
pars pro toto, ‘part for whole’, a figure of speech in which part of something is used to refer to the whole thing
pleonastic, syllable, word, or phrase that is superfluous
proclitic position, pre-position (as opposed to enclitic position)
referent, the unmentioned cognitive meaning value of a kenning, e.g. the referent of the kenning logi fjarðar ‘flame of the fjord’ is ‘gold’
resolution, two short syllables occupying one fully stressed metrical position in a line
siglum (pl. sigla), abbreviation, usually a combination of alphanumerical symbols, used to designate a specific manuscript and/or the collection in which it is found
solecism, solecismus, grammatical irregularity, e.g. change of tense, plural used in place of singular
stanza, a group of poetic lines, arranged according to a regular scheme; one of a series of such groups, which together make up a poem
stemma (pl. stemmata), a diagram representing a reconstruction of the relationships between the surviving and postulated witnesses to a text
svarabhakti, vowel developed between two consonants
tmesis, the separation of a word or compound into two parts, with another word or words between them