List of kennings Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description

A list of kennings follows.

A key to usage is as follows: AS - Anglo-Saxon N - Norse (generic) Ic - Old Icelandic D - Danish S - Swedish Nor - Norwegian G - Germanic Ce - Celtic X - common across all tongues.

Useful sources and references for further studies of kennings:

Meissner's "Die Kenningar der Skalden" (1921)

Snorri Sturluson Skáldskaparmál

has a list of kennings with which Odin is associated or by which he is known; only the less obvious ones are given beneath.]]

Kennings

Kennings	Primary meaning	Secondary/implied/allusive meaning	Source languages	Documents and sources
Aegir's daughters	waves		N
Baldur's bane	mistletoe	The kenning derives from the story in which all plants and creatures swore never to harm Baldur, save the mistletoe which was overlooked and which Loki used to bring about Baldur's death by tricking Hodur.	N
blood-ember	axe		N	Skaldskaparmal
blood-worm	sword		N
breaker of rings	King or chieftain	Alludes to a ruler breaking the golden rings upon his arm and using them to reward his followers.	AS	Beowulf
breaker of trees	wind		N
father of the sea thread	Loki, the father of Jormagund, the Midgard serpent		N	Thorsdrapa
feeder of ravens	warrior		N
flame-farewelled	death	Implicitly honourable death	N
Freya's tears	gold, sometimes amber	Derived from the story of when Freya could not find Odr, her husband, the tears she shed were gold, and the trees which her tears fell upon were transmuted into amber.	N
glory-of-elves	sun: Alfrodull		N	Skirnismal
Grímnir's lip-streams	poetry	Grímnir is one of the names of Odin	N	Thorsdrapa
Gunn's horse	wolf	Gunn is a valkyrie	S	Rök Stone
Hanged god	Odin		N
Hrugnir's slayer	Thor's hammer, Mjollnir		N	Lokasenna
ice	silver		N
Kraki's seed	gold	Hrólf Kraki spread gold on the Fyris Wolds to distract the men of the Swedish king. Can also be used to imply generosity; q.v. Hrólf Kraki	N	Skáldskaparmál
Lord of the gallows	Odin		N
Mountain of the hawk	arm	in falconeering, the hawk rests on the arm of its master	N
Onion of war	Sword		N
raven harvest	corpse	battle-field corpses	N
seeds of the Fyris Wolds	gold	Hrólf Kraki spread gold on the Fyris Wolds to distract the men of the Swedish king	N
serpent's lair	gold	Serpents (and dragons) were reputed to lie upon gold in their nests	N	Skaldskaparmal
Sif's hair	gold	Derived from the story of when Loki cut off Sif's hair. In order to amend his crime, Loki had the dwarf Dvalin make new hair for Sif, a wig of gold that grew like normal hair.	N
slaughter-dew	blood		N
slayer of giants	Thor	felli fjörnets goa flugstalla (source: Thorsdrapa), is a compound kenning. Literally feller of the life webs (fjörnets) of the gods of the flight-edges, i.e. slayer of giants, life webs (fjörnets) is a kenning in its own right since it refers directly to the operations of the Norns in severing lives, flight-edges (flugstalla) being the high and dangerous places inhabited by eagles and hawks, i.e. the icy mountains of Jotunheim.	N	Thorsdrapa
spear-din	battle		N	Skaldskaparmal
steed of the billows	ship		N
taming wand	sword		N	Skirnismal
valley-trout	serpent		N	Skaldskaparmal
weather of weapons	war		N	Skaldskaparmal
whale's way	the sea		N,AS	Beowulf
wolf's father	Loki	an allusion to Loki's fathering of Fenrir	N	Lokasenna
wolf's-joint	wrist	An allusion to Tyr's loss of his hand when fettering the wolf Fenrir	Ic - úlfli›r	Gylfaginning

This is an Article on List of kennings. Page Contains Information, Facts Details or Explanation Guide About List of kennings

Likely kenning

Beowulf (bee-wolf)

Bear

A very likely kenning for Bödvar Bjarki whose name means "battle bear", and who is the analogue of Beowulf in Scandinavian sources

AS

Beowulf

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