Mot del dia (iv) — bark

Avui aprofito per compartir, amb els mots del dia, un fragment de Tolstoi del qual gairebé es pot respirar Rússia desglaçant-se al bell mig de l'esclat de la primavera.

bark¹
[a1300; < Scandinavian bark- (Old Norse börkr, Swedish, Danish bark) < Germanic *barku-z]
1.a. The rind or outer sheath of the trunk and branches of trees, formed on tissue parallel with the wood.

hollow²
[1553; Old English holh (c.f. Old High German huliwa, hulwa, Middle High German hülwe, pool, puddle, slough) < Old Germanic *holhwo-, apparently radically related to Old English hol (→ holl adj., hole n.) and holc (→ holk n., cavity); but the nature of the formation is obscure]
1. A hollow or concave formation or place, which has been dug out, or has the form of having so been: (a) a hole, cave, den, burrow (obs.); (b) a hole running through the length or thickness of anything; a bore (obs.); (c) a surface concavity, more or less deep, an excavation, a depression on any surface; (d) an internal cavity (with or without an orifice); a void space.
2. spec. A depression on the earth's surface; a place or tract below the general level or surrounded by heights; a valley, a basin.

I l'exemple d'ús:

If Levin felt happy in the cattle- and farm-yards, he felt still happier in the fields. Swaying rhythmically to the amble of his good little mount, drinking in the warm yet fresh smell of the snow and the air as he went through the forest over the granular, subsiding snow that still remained here and there with tracks spreading in it, he rejoiced at each of his trees with moss reviving on its bark and buds swelling. When he rode out of the forest, green wheat spread before him in a smooth, velvety capet over a huge space, with not a single bare or marshy patch, and only spotted here and there in the hollows with the remains of the melting snow.

—Leo Tolstoi, Anna Karenina (Part Two, XIII)

tr. Pevear & Volokhonsky

El context fa obvi que "hollow" as refereix a la primera accepció del OED, més adient que l'accident geogràfic de major escala (una conca—d'etimologia interessant, segons el GDLC). Trobo adient citar també l'original en rus, a veure si m'inspira a dedicar-li una anàlisi més detallada:

Если Левину весело было на скотном и житном дворах, то ему еще стало веселее в поле. Мерно покачиваясь на иноходи доброго конька, впивая теплый со свежестью запах снега и воздуха при проезде через лес по оставшемуся кое-где праховому, осовывавшемуся снегу с расплывшими следами, он радовался на каждое всое дерево с оживавшим на коре его мохом и с напухшими почками. Когда он выехал за лес, пред ним на огромном пространстве раскинулись ровным бархатным корвом зеленя, без одной плешмины и вымочки, только кое-где в лощинах запятнанные остатками тающего снега.³

Per tant, корá (bark—escorça), i лощи́на (hollow—sot). La segona accepció al GDLC,

sot⁴
[c.1500; d'un preromà mediterrani *tsotto, tsotta, íd.]
m 1 Clot.
2 Petita depressió del terreny que s'entolla quan plou. Vaig ficar el peu en un sot ple d'aigua.

il·lustra perfectament, al meu entendre, el tipus de "hollow" que està anomenant Tolstoi, que acomoda "remains of the melting snow", no pas "a valley, a basin" del OED (2).

[¹ bark: entrada al OED] [² hollow: entrada al OED] [³ Анна Каренина, Л. Н. Толстой (Часть вторая, ХIII) al ilibrary.ru] [⁴ sot: entrada al GDLC]