Editing Kenning (section)

===Complex kennings===
The [[skald]]s also employed complex kennings in which the determinant, or sometimes the base-word, is itself made up of a further kenning: {{lang|non-latn|grennir gunn-más}} {{gloss|feeder of war-gull}} = {{gloss|feeder of [[raven]]}} = {{gloss|warrior}} ([[Þorbjörn Hornklofi]]: ''[[Glymdrápa]]'' 6); {{lang|non-latn|eyðendr arnar hungrs}} {{gloss|destroyers of eagle's hunger}} = {{gloss|feeders of eagle}} = {{gloss|warrior}} (Þorbjörn Þakkaskáld: Erlingsdrápa 1) (referring to [[carrion]] birds [[scavenging]] after a battle). Where one kenning is embedded in another like this, the whole figure is said to be {{lang|is|tvíkent}} {{gloss|doubly determined, twice modified}}.<ref name="Faulkes 1999, p. 5/12">Faulkes (1999), p. 5/12.</ref>

Frequently, where the determinant is itself a kenning, the base-word of the kenning that makes up the determinant is attached uninflected to the front of the base-word of the whole kenning to form a compound word: {{lang|non-latn|mög-fellandi mellu}} {{gloss|son-slayer of giantess}} = {{gloss|slayer of sons of giantess}} = {{gloss|slayer of giants}} = {{gloss|the god [[Thor]]}} ([[Steinunn Refsdóttir]]: [[Lausavísa]] 2).

If the figure comprises more than three elements, it is said to be {{lang|is|rekit}} "extended".<ref name="Faulkes 1999, p. 5/12"/> Kennings of up to seven elements are recorded in skaldic verse.<ref>{{Citation |title=FJËRKENNT |date=Apr 14, 2001 |url=http://www.hi.is/~eybjorn/ugm/kennings/4kennt.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010414021805/http://www.hi.is/~eybjorn/ugm/kennings/4kennt.html |access-date=May 6, 2020|archive-date=2001-04-14 }}</ref> Snorri himself characterises five-element kennings as an acceptable license but cautions against more extreme constructions: {{lang|non-latn|Níunda er þat at reka til hinnar fimtu kenningar, er ór ættum er ef lengra er rekit; en þótt þat finnisk í fornskálda verka, þá látum vér þat nú ónýtt.}} "The ninth [license] is extending a kenning to the fifth determinant, but it is out of proportion if it is extended further. Even if it can be found in the works of ancient poets, we no longer tolerate it."<ref>Faulkes 1991, 8:29–31; Faulkes 1987, 172.</ref> The longest kenning found in skaldic poetry occurs in ''[[Hafgerðingadrápa]]'' by [[Þórðr Sjáreksson]] and reads {{lang|non-latn|nausta blakks hlé-mána gífrs drífu gim-slöngvir}} {{gloss|fire-brandisher of blizzard of ogress of protection-moon of steed of boat-shed}}, which simply means {{gloss|warrior}}.