Why “anchorhold” is a great word
ANCHORHOLD — [Noun] A secure cell attached to a church, designed as the permanent dwelling for a religious recluse. From anchor (in the obsolete sense 'anchorite, religious recluse', from Old English ancor, ultimately from Late Latin anchorita, from Greek anachōrētēs, 'one who withdraws') + hold (from Old English hold, 'grasp, keeping, stronghold'). Unlike a hermitage, which implies a remote retreat into nature, or a monastery, which centers on communal life, an anchorhold is a solitude physically sutured to the beating heart of a community. It is the scent of wax and cold stone from the chancel beyond the curtain, the scratch of a quill in a room no bigger than a tomb, and the muted echo of mass through a shuttered window—a small, immovable weight chosen to steady the drift of the world.