holloway
HOL-oh-way
A sunken lane grooved into soft earth over centuries by the passage of feet, wheels, and weather. Some twenty feet deep, now overgrown with brambles and nettles. Time pleated back on itself — in the dusk of a holloway, discontinuous moments feel coexistent.
Etymology
Anglo-Saxon hola weg, hollow way. The path that wore itself down.
Notes
Popularized by British writer Robert Macfarlane in Landmarks and other books, who learned of it from his friend and fellow scribe Roger Deakin (Wildwood, Waterlog, and Notes from Walnut Tree Farm).
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