815: kennings, whale-roads, and window Mar 2, 2017

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While English speakers are relatively straightforward—opting for single words over compound phrases with commonly understood meanings—there are still some remnants of what was often practiced in Old English. In Beowulf, there are a plethora of different ways to say, for example, 'sea', including 'hron-rād' ('whale-road'), 'seġl-rād' ('sail-road'), 'hwæl-weġ' ('whale-way'), and 'swan-rād' ('swan-road'). Germanic languages, especially North Germanic ones, were filled with these, and often drew on their common mythology because the kennings—as they're called—needed to use words that everyone knew; the name for the word comes from 'ken' meaning 'know' for this reason, which you can see more about below. Words ranging from simple things like body-parts and plants to more complex ideas would be kennings, and while these are less popular today in English, there are some remnants of this. The word, 'window' comes from the Old English 'vindauga' meaning, 'wind-eye'.
Click if you want 'To Ken' more.

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