quadrivial

[prettygoodword]

quadrivial (kwo-DRIV-ee-uhl) - adj., having four ways or roads meeting at one intersection; (of ways or roads) leading in four directions; of or related to the quadrivium, the upper tranche of the liberal arts (arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy).


That latter being in the context of medieval European education -- but never mind that, I'm more interested in the first sense of a regular cross-road. Taken in the 15th century from Latin quadrivium, a place where four ways meet, from quattuor, four + via, way.

---L.

Comments

[dewline]

Now here's a word we ought to be bringing back into general usage!

[prettygoodword]

Hear, hear!

[flwyd]

With one fewer roads it is, of course, a trivium, where people come together to discuss the trivial.

[prettygoodword]

:ba-dum tsh!: