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?
E. J. S.
A regular Mull (Vol. iii., p. 449.).
—The story of King Mûl is perhaps rather far-fetched. If it would neither put your correspondent in a stew, nor get myself into a broil, nor you into a mess or a pickle, I would settle his hash by suggesting that terms of cookery are frequently used as descriptive of disagreeable predicaments; and that though in our time nothing except beer or wine is mulled, yet it may not always have been so. Or may not the word be a corruption of muddle? I stand up for neither, but I will back either against King Mûl.
M.