represents merely a variant of Royds (Chapter XII). This name and its
compounds belong essentially to the north, the prevailing spelling,
Rhodes, being artificial. It has no connection with the island of
Rhodes.

The meaning of Street has changed considerably since the days when
Icknield Street and Watling Street were great national roads. It is
now used exclusively of town thoroughfares, and has become such a mere
suffix that, while we speak of the Oxford Road, we try to suppress the
second word in Ox'ford Street. To street belong our place-names and
surnames in Strat-, Stret-, etc., e.g. Stratton, Stretton, Stredwick.
Way has a number of compounds with intrusive _a_, e.g. Challaway,
Dallaway (dale), Greenaway, Hathaway (heath), Westaway. But Hanway is
the name of a country (Chapter XI), and Otway, Ottoway, is Old Fr.
Otouet, a dim. of Odo. Shipway is for sheep-way. In the north of
England the streets in a town are often called gates (Scand.). It is
impossible to distinguish the compounds of this gate from those of the
native gate, a barrier (Chapter XIII), e.g. Norgate may mean North
Street or North Gate.

Alley and Court both exist as surnames, but the former is for a'lee,
i.e. Atlee (Chapter XII), and the latter is from court in the sense of
mansion, country house. The curious spelling Caught may be seen over
a shop in Chiswick. Rowe (Chapter I) sometimes means row of houses,
but in Townroe the second element is identical with Wray (Chapter
XIII). Cosway, Cossey, is from causeway, Fr. chaussee; and Twitchers,
Twitchell represent dialect words used of a narrow passage and
connected with the Mid. English verb twiselen, to fork, or divide;
Twiss must be of similar origin, for we find Robert del twysse in
1367. Cf. Birtwistle and Entwistle. With the above may be classed
the west-country Shute, a narrow street; Vennell, a north-country word
for alley, Fr. venelle, dim. of Lat. versa, vein; Wynd, a court, also
a north-country word, probably from the verb wind, to twist; and the
cognate Went, a passage--

"Thorugh a goter, by a prive wente."

(Troilus and Criseyde, iii. 788.)

WATER

Names derived from artificial watercourses are Channell, now replaced
as a common noun by the learned form canal; Condy or Cundy, for the
earlier Cunditt, conduit; Gott, cognate with gut, used in Yorkshire
for the channel from a mill-dam, and in Lincolnshire for a water-drain
on the coast; Lade, Leete, connected with