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carfax, -fox|ˈkɑːfæks, -fɒks|
Forms: 4 carfuks, carfouk, 5 carfowgh, carfoukes, 6–7 carfox, 7 carfoix, carefox, 8 cairfax, 5– carfax.
[ME. carfuks, -fouk, repr. an earlier carreforc(s, -furcs, corresp. to Pr. carreforc, OF. carrefor(s, -four (mod.F. carrefour):—L. quadrifurc-us four-forked, f. quadri- = quatuor four + furca fork.
As the F. had lost the final c before the 12th c., it is not quite clear how this came into Eng.;—possibly from the Latin form—it could hardly be from the Provençal. The total absence of the r in Eng. is also notable, esp. as fork was a well-known word from OE. times. But notwithstanding these and other obscure points in the phonetic history, the derivation itself appears to be beyond doubt.]
1. A place where four roads or streets meet. (Sometimes extended to more than four.)
1357London City Rec., Lett. Bk. G 72 Item qe nul Pulter nautre denzein de la Citee nestoise as Carfuks del ledenhalle ouesqz conyns volatil nautre Pulletrie pur vendre. c1440Promp. Parv. 62 Cartehowse [v.r. Carfax, or Carfaus], quadrivium. c1450Merlin xvii. 273 Thei enbusshed hem a-gein a carfowgh [? carfowrgh] of vj weyes. c1500Partenay 1819 No place ther had, neither carfoukes [Fr. carrefours] non. 1662Phillips, Carefox, quasi, quatre-four, or a place parted into four wayes, a market place in Oxford. [ed. 1678 Carfax.] 1886C. W. Bardsley Jim's Psalm 17 He comes to a country carfax. Four roads meet.
2. Hence, the proper name of a place formed by the intersection of two principal streets in various towns, as at Oxford and Exeter.
1527Will of W. Secoll of Stanton Harcourt (Somerset Ho.) My house in Eynesham before the Carfaxe. 1580Vowell Exeter (1765) 6 The Conduit at Quatrefois or Carfox. c1630Risdon Surv. Devon §107 (1810) 104 Four..streets..do all meet in the midst of the city, called corruptly Carfox. 1656Blount Glossogr., Carefox, a market place in Oxford so called. 1673Will of H. Ellis of Horsham (Somerset Ho.) Scarfolkes. 1693J. Edwards Bks. of O. & N.T. I. 429 Carfax.. the place where Four Ways meet in Oxford. 1709Hearne Collect. 24 July, Ad quadrivium, vulgo Cairfax. 1751S. Whatley Eng. Gazeteer Exeter (Devon), Here are 4 principal streets..all centering in the middle of the City, which is therefore called Carfox. 1880Sussex Gloss. (E.D.S.) The Carfax at Horsham. 1886T. Northy Hist. Exeter xiii. 66 They were taken to Exeter and executed at the Carfoix.
†3. (In form carfouk): Used to render med.L. quadrivium, in the academic sense of the four ‘arts’, arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy (cf. art 7). Obs.
1387Trevisa Higden vi. xiv. Rolls Ser. VII. 69 Þat carfouk ich leve [illud quadrivium omitto], but he [Gerebertus] drank þerof þat he passed al oþere. |