I remember learning about the parts of Pennsylvania bank barns, with their massive gray limestone walls with glassless slits, called “windeyes,” built into their sides for ventilation.

One of the pleasures of looking up words is discovering how fitting they can be. According to Dictionary.com, our word window has this history: Origin: 1175–1225; ME windoge, windowe < ON vindauga, equiv. to vindr wind + auga eye.

These windows on an old frame barn near our house gaze north from under aging and peeling brows, facing the cold north winds and awaiting the shedding of their panes, to turn them into true windeyes.