List of kennings

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This list does not pretend to be comprehensive. Kennings for a particular character are listed in that character's article. For example, the Odin article links to a list of names of Odin, which include kennings. Only a few examples of Odin's kennings are given here. For a scholarly list of kennings see Meissner's Die Kenningar der Skalden (1921) or a good edition of Snorri Sturluson Skáldskaparmál

[edit] Source language abbreviations

AS - Anglo-Saxon Ce - Celtic D - Danish

G - Germanic Ic - Old Icelandic N - Norse (generic)

Nor - Norwegian S - Swedish X - common across all tongues.

[edit] List of Kennings

Primary meaning	Kenning translated.	Original Kenning	Secondary/implied/allusive meaning	Source languages	Documents and sources
arm	mountain of the hawk	hauka fjöll	in falconeering, the hawk rests on the arm of its master	N	Eyvindr skáldaspillir Lausavísa 8
axe	blood-ember			N
battle	spear-din			N	Skaldskaparmal
bear	bee wolf	Beowulf	A very likely kenning for Bödvar Bjarki whose name means "battle bear", and who is the analogue of Beowulf in Scandinavian sources	AS	Beowulf
blood	slaughter-dew			N
blood	battle-sweat		One reference for this kenning comes from the epic poem, Beowulf. As Beowulf is in fierce combat with Grendel's Mother, he makes mention of shedding much battle-sweat.	N
blood	wound-sea	svarraði sárgymir		N	Eyvindr Skáldaspillir Hákonarmál 7).
chieftain or king	breaker of rings		Alludes to a ruler breaking the golden rings upon his arm and using them to reward his followers.	AS	Beowulf
corpse	raven harvest		battle-field corpses	N
death	sleep of the sword			AS	Beowulf
death	flame-farewelled		Implicitly honourable death	N
eyes	moons of the forehead			N
eyes	brow-stars			IC	Gylfaginning
fire	bane of wood	grand viðar		ON	Snorri Sturluson Skáldskaparmál 36
fire	sun of the houses	sól húsanna		ON	Snorri Sturluson Skáldskaparmál 36
gold	seeds of the Fyris Wolds	Fýrisvalla fræ	Hrólf Kraki spread gold on the Fyris Wolds to distract the men of the Swedish king	N	Eyvindr skáldaspillir Lausavísa 8
gold	serpent's lair		Serpents (and dragons) were reputed to lie upon gold in their nests	N	Skáldskaparmál
gold	Sif's hair		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	Skáldskaparmál
gold	Kraki's seed		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
gold, sometimes amber	Freyja's tears		Derived from the story of when Freyja could not find Óðr, her husband, the tears she shed were gold, and the trees which her tears fell upon were transmuted into amber.	N
hook	bait-gallows			Ic	Flateyjarbok
kill enemies	Feed the eagle		Killing enemies left food for the eagles	S	Gripsholm Runestone
Loki	wolf's father		an allusion to Loki's fathering of Fenrir	N	Lokasenna
Loki	father of the sea thread		Loki was the father of Jörmungandr, the Midgard serpent	N	Þórsdrápa
mistletoe	Baldur's bane		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
Mjollnir, Thor's hammer	Hrugnir's slayer			N	Lokasenna
Odin	Lord of the gallows		See the separate page List_of_names_of_Odin for more Odin kennings	N
Odin	Hanged god		Odin hung on the Tree of Knowledge for nine days in order to gain wisdom.	N
poetry	Grímnir's lip-streams		Grímnir is one of the names of Odin	N	Þórsdrápa
raven	swan of blood		ravens ate the dead at battlefields	N
the sea	whale-road	hron-rād		N,AS	Beowulf 10: "In the end each clan on the outlying coasts beyond the whale-road had to yield to him and begin to pay tribute"
the sea	sail road	seġl-rād		AS	Beowulf 1429 b
the sea	whale's way	hwæl-weġ		N,AS	The Seafarer 63 a; Beowulf
the sea	swan-road	swan-rād		AS	Beowulf 200 a
serpent	valley-trout			N	Skaldskaparmal
shield	headland of swords	sverða nesi		N	Eyvindr Skáldaspillir Hákonarmál 7
ship	wave-steed	báru fákr		N	þorbjörn Hornklofi: Glymdrápa 3
ship	sea-steed	gjálfr-marr		N	Hervararkviða 27; Skáldskaparmál
sky	Ymir’s skull	Ymis haus		N	Arnórr jarlaskáld Magnúsdrápa 19
the sun	sky-candle	heofon-candel		AS	Exodus 115 b
the sun	sky's jewel	heofones ġim		AS	The Phoenix 183
the sun	glory of elves	álf röðull	álf röðull (alfrodull), meaning "glory-of-elves" refers both to the chariot of the sun goddess Sól and to the rider (the sun herself).	N	Skírnismál Vafþrúðnismál
sword	blood-worm			N
sword	icicle of blood			N
sword	wound-hoe	ben-grefill		N	Egill Skallagrímsson: Höfuðlausn 8
sword	onion of war	ímun-laukr	Or leek of war	N	Eyvindr skáldaspillir Lausavísa 8
Thor	slayer of giants	felli fjörnets goða flugstalla	felli fjörnets goða flugstalla 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
war	weather of weapons			N	Skaldskaparmal
warrior	feeder of ravens	grennir gunn-más	“feeder of war-gull” = “feeder of raven” = “warrior” Ravens feed on dead bodies left after a battle.	N	Þorbjörn Hornklofi: Glymdrápa
warrior	destroyers of eagle’s hunger	eyðendr arnar hungrs	“destroyers of eagle’s hunger” = “feeders of eagle” = “warrior” Ravens feed on dead bodies left after a battle.	N	Þorbjörn Þakkaskáld: Erlingsdrápa 1
waves	Ægir's daughters		Ægir had nine daughters called billow maidens who were personifications of the waves.	N
wind	breaker of trees			N
wolf	Gunn's horse		Gunn is a valkyrie	S	Rök Stone
wrist	wolf's-joint	úlfli›r	An allusion to Tyr's loss of his hand when fettering the wolf Fenrir	Ic	Gylfaginning