_Four Want Way_ (Vol. iii., pp. 168. 434.).--A cross road, or that point
where four roads meet, is frequently called by the peasantry in Kent
"the four vents" in other counties, "the four wents," "the four want
way," &c. I have always considered the word as being derived from the
ancient VENTA: thus VENTA _Icenorum_ (Caister, near Norwich), the
highway of the Iceni; VENTA _Silurum_ (Caerwent, in Monmouthshire), the
highway of the Silures; VENTA _Belgarum_ (Winchester), the highway of
the Belgæ; both of which last-named cities retain in some degree the
ancient appellation.
W. CHAFFERS, Jun.
_Meaning of Carfoix_ (Vol. iii., p. 469.).--Will your correspondent K.
TH. give, if he can, an account of the word "carfoix?" Is it not the
French _carrefour_, a name applied to more than one place in Guernsey,
though not, I believe, necessarily to a spot where four ways meet? The
chief carrefour there is at the junction of the Pollet, High Street and
Smith Street; another is in the country, the _Carrefour aux Lievres_,
the precise locality of which I cannot quite recall. MR. METIVIER, whose
name I am glad to see in your pages, can tell, I dare say, of others. I
suppose the derivation to be in _Quatuor fores_, or some French
derivative from those words. "Carfoix" reminds me of "Carfax" in Oxford.
Are the names akin to each other?