Kenning

In literature, a kenning is a poetic phrase, a figure of speech, substituted for the usual name of a person or thing. Kennings work in much the same way as epithets and verbal formulae, and were commonly inserted into Old English poetic lines.In its simplest form, it comprises two terms, one of which (the 'base word'), is made to relate to the other to convey a meaning neither has alone. 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 verb kenna við, "to express [one thing] in terms of [another]", and is prevalent throughout Norse, Anglo-Saxon literature and Celtic literature. Kennings are especially associated with the practice of alliterative verse, where they tend to become traditional fixed formulas. The skalds made such extensive use of kennings that these have come to be regarded as an essential nature of 'skaldic verse'. A good knowledge of mythology was necessary in order to understand the kennings, which is one of the reasons why Snorri Sturluson composed the Younger Edda as a work of reference for aspiring poets. Here is an example of how important this knowledge was. It was composed by the Norwegian skald Eyvind Finnson (d. ca 990), and he compares the greed of king Harald Gråfell to the generosity of his predecessor Haakon the Good: Bárum Ullr, of alla ímunlauks, á hauka fjöllum Fýrisvalla fræ Hákonar ævi; nú hefr fólkstríðir Fróða fáglýjaðra þýja meldr í móður holdi mellu dolgs of folginn
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Les kennings (pluriel savant : kenningar) sont une forme poétique propre à la poésie scandinave, consistant en des périphrases.
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Als die Kenning (von altnord. kenna „kennzeichnen“, Pl. Kenningar) wird in der altgermanischen, besonders der altisländischen Stabreimdichtung (Edda, Skalden) das Stilmittel einer poetischen Umschreibung einfacher Begriffe bezeichnet. Im Gegensatz zur eingliedrigen Heiti, etwa der Metapher vergleichbar, ist die Kenning eine mehrgliedrige bildhafte Beschreibung, die sich aus einfachen Worten zusammensetzt.
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Kenning - anglo-saski mechanizm, bardzo powszechnie używany w poezji okresu anglo-saskiego. K. polega na zastępowaniu znanych, powszechnych nazw rzeczy, osób etc. nowymi związkami, frazami poetyckimi. Mechanizm ten bardzo często używany był w staroangielskim.
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In letteratura, e in particolare nella letteratura medioevale norrena, una kenning (plurale: kenningar) è una frase poetica che sostituisce, rimpiazzandolo con una metafora, il nome di una persona o di una cosa. Per esempio, il mare veniva spesso indicato nella letteratura inglese antica con frasi come segl-rad ("strada delle vele"), swan-rad ("strada dei cigni"), o hwæl-weg ("via delle balene"; quest'uso si trova anche in Beowulf, nella forma hronrade, "strada delle balene").
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