Ginnel

An everyday word across Yorkshire and Lancashire for the tight passages running between rows of terraced houses (called a "snicket," "twitten," or "jitty" elsewhere in England, depending entirely on which county you're standing in). Recorded in Northern texts as far back as 1613. One theory traces it to Old English "gin" (an opening or gap) with a diminutive ending attached; the Oxford English Dictionary instead floats a possible, admittedly vague, connection to the French "chenelle," an old form of "channel." Neither has been confirmed as the definite root.