kenning
/ˈkɛnɪŋ/ noun, proper noun
Also a form of ken
Forms kennings
- noun (obsolete) Sight, view; specifically a distant view at sea.
- noun (obsolete) The range or extent of vision, especially at sea; (by extension) a marine measure of approximately twenty miles.
- noun As little as one can discriminate or recognize; a small portion, a little. “put in a kenning of salt”
- noun (zoology, obsolete, rare) A chalaza or tread of an egg (a spiral band attaching the yolk of the egg to the eggshell); a cicatricula.
- noun (poetry) 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.
- noun (Northern England) A dry measure equivalent to half a bushel; a container with that capacity.
- proper noun A surname.
Synonyms
Etymology
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.
From ken (“to beget, bring forth”), from Middle English kennen (“to beget, conceive (offspring); to give birth to”), from Old English cennan, gecennan (“to beget (offspring); to give birth to; to bring forth, produce”); see further at etymology 1.
A learned borrowing from Old Norse kenning, from kenna (“to know; to perceive”), from Proto-Germanic *kannijaną (“to make known”); see further at etymology 1. Compare can, keen, ken.
Origin unknown.
Webster’s 1913
- noun Range of sight. [Obs.] Bacon.
- noun The limit of vision at sea, being a distance of about twenty miles.
Etymology [See Ken, v. t.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “kenning”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details