woozapooza:

englishable:

Old English just has some wonderful words and kennings. I mean, really:

Their word for sea? It was often swan-rad or “road of the swan.” Spider was gangelwaefre, literally “the walking weaver.” They had the simple and now-obsolete word uht, which describes that time just before sunrise when mist still hangs heavy over all the fields and lakes and the last few stars are still out.

…Also, they didn’t say body. They said ban-cofan, which means “bone-cave,” and if you don’t think that’s some hardcore shit right there then you need to get out of my face before I turn your skull into a mead-cup.

Another kenning for sea is hron-rad, which means “road of the whale,” which I think is even cooler than swan road.

I mean they also had less interesting words for sea and spider and body for non-poetic contexts. Poetry is where you find the really cool, creative stuff.