Re: The Need for Debate

Steg Belsky scripsit:

> York comes from Norse "Jorvik"?  I thought it came from Latin
> "Eboricum" or something like that...
"Eboracum", yes, and before that from some Celtic name.  But the Old English
name was "Eoforwic", a case of folk etymology -- the meaningless Latin name
was reinterpreted as "Wild-boar-town".  If the name had descended unchanged,
it would have come out Everwich, or something of the sort -- but when the
Danes took over they simplified "Eofor-" to "Jor-" and replaced the ending
with their cognate form "-vik".  "York" is a further reduced descendant.

--
Only do what only you can do.               John Cowan <jcowan@...>
  --Edsger W. Dijkstra's advice             http://www.reutershealth.com
    to a student in search of a thesis      http://www.ccil.org/~cowan

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