Kennings for ‘raven’ and ‘eagle’

This article provides an analysis of kennings for ‘raven’ and ‘eagle’, taking a closer look at the choice and meanings of base-words, their connection with determinants and the formation of kenning patterns. It investigates the role of kenning parts in establishing the meaning of the referent, also taking into consideration adjectives and adjectival elements of compounded base-words. The article is also a test case for how information can be drawn from a new kenning lexicon in form of an online-database. The database format offers various possibilities to structure the corpus of kennings, for instance allowing the article’s focus on details concerning the construction of kennings and the usage and combination of base-words and determinants.