kenning
nounEtymology
From Middle English kenning, kening (“instruction, teaching; experience, knowledge; sight, view”), from kennen (“to make known, point out, reveal; to direct, instruct, teach; to know, perceive”) + -ing. Kennen is derived from Old English cennan (“to make known, declare”), from Proto-West Germanic *kannijan, from Proto-Germanic *kannijaną (“to make known”), the causative form of *kunnaną (“to know, be familiar with, recognize; to be able to, know how”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵneh₃- (“to know”). Compare Danish kending (“acquaintance”), and see further at ken. By surface analysis, ken + -ing.
- derived from *ǵneh₃-✻
- inherited from *kannijaną✻
- inherited from *kannijan✻
- inherited from cennan
- inherited from kenning
Definitions
Sight, view
Sight, view; specifically a distant view at sea.
The range or extent of vision, especially at sea
The range or extent of vision, especially at sea; (by extension) a marine measure of approximately twenty miles.
- Scylley is a Kenning, that is to ſay about an xx. Miles from the very Weſteſte Point of Cornewaulle.
As little as one can discriminate or recognize
As little as one can discriminate or recognize; a small portion, a little.
- put in a kenning of salt
- His father was none so ill a man, though a kenning on the wrong side of the law, and no friend to my family, that I should waste my breath to be defending him!
›+ 5 more definitionsshow fewer
present participle and gerund of ken.
A chalaza or tread of an egg (a spiral band attaching the yolk of the egg to the eggshell)
A chalaza or tread of an egg (a spiral band attaching the yolk of the egg to the eggshell); a cicatricula.
- The ſtreine or kenning of the egge.
A metaphorical compound or phrase, used especially in Germanic poetry (Old English or Old…
A metaphorical compound or phrase, used especially in Germanic poetry (Old English or Old Norse) whereby a simple thing is described in an allusive way.
- I venture to say that a close study of the style of Piers Plowman would thoroughly dispose of alliteration as chief factor in the kenning-process.
A dry measure equivalent to half a bushel
A dry measure equivalent to half a bushel; a container with that capacity.
- In the hall. One large table, with frame. 10s. ij cobbordes 8s. j fourme, j chaire, and j kenninge measure, 12d.
A surname.
The neighborhood
Derived
Vish — recursive loop
No curated loop yet for kenning. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.
sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA