Calle del Atajo
The name is descriptive: an atajo, a shortcut, a brief passage that shortens the way between two points in the neighborhood.
The calle del Atajo is a very short street in Vallehermoso, and its name says what it is for: a shortcut, a passage that shortens the trip between two points in the neighborhood.
The word comes from the verb atajar, and that from tajar, to cut. Naming a short street with that term fits an old Madrid custom: christening streets after what the locals saw and used. No record survives of who fixed the name or when it first came into use.
Vallehermoso grew over old market gardens and paths on the outskirts of Madrid, and its layout keeps echoes of that landscape of trails. Within that fabric, a street called Atajo names what it offers: a passage to shorten the walk.