Some information on the name can be found here: http://www.viking.no/e/england/york/eboracum.htm Eboracum - Eoforwic - Jorvik -York "To the Romans it was Eboracum. It is said that this name comes from the Celtic personal name, Eburos. For almost four hundred years the Romans kept a strong military presence in Eboracum, to help control the Celtic British tribes (especially the restless Brigantes to the west) and to provide reinforcements for Hadrian's Wall to the north. The Romans built the first stone walls around Eboracum, so it could be defended. When the area was invaded and settled by the Angles, from the 5th Century onwards, it is said that they mistook 'ebor' for 'eofor', which in Old English meant 'wild boar'. To this they added the Old English 'wic', giving the name Eoforwic. Eoforwic became the capital of the Anglian kings of Northumbria and, when the Anglo-Saxons were eventually converted to Christianity, it also became a centre for the new religion. The city fell to Scandinavian invaders in AD 866. The first part of the name was simplified to 'jor', perhaps a result of the Old English and Scandinavian languages being combined. The Old English 'wic' became the Scandinavian 'vik' and the settlement's new name, Jorvik, emerged."

1) "Etymology From Old Norse Jórvík ‘horse-bay’, adaptation of Old English EoforwÄ«Ä‹ ‘boar-town’, itself a folk-etymological alteration of Latin Eborācum, from Brythonic Celtic *Eborakon, from *efrawg ‘yew-tree’ (compare Welsh efwr, Breton evor)." 2) "This city was originally named by the Celts as Eborakon, which means "place of yew trees". The name of the Yew is Efrawg in Brythonic, Efwr in Welsh, Iobhar in Irish Gaelic, Iorc in Scottish Gaelic, Evor in Breton and was Eburos in Gaulic. As York was a town in Roman times, its Celtic name is recorded in Roman sources, as Eboracum and Eburacum, with the ending -acumLatinized instead of -acon in celtic. After 400 AD Anglo-Saxons took over the area and adapted the name by folk etymology to Old English EoforwÄ«c, which means "wild-boar town". The Proto-Germanic form of Old English eofor is *eburaz. York became Northumbria's centre of power later on. The Vikings took over the area later; who in turn adapted the name by folk etymology to Norse Jórvík meaning "horse bay", like a town in Bohuslän at the time, which was reduced to York in the centuries after the Norman Conquest." Source and further information: http://www.experiencefestival.com/a/York_-_Etymology/id/1349114 3) "Folk etymology is a term used in two distinct ways: 1. A commonly held misunderstanding of the origin of a particular word, a false etymology. 2. "The popular perversion of the form of words in order to render it apparently significant"; "the process by which a word or phrase, usually one of seemingly opaque formation, is arbitrarily reshaped so as to yield a form which is considered to be more transparent."" Here, meaning 2 is used. -------- ADDED ------- Maybe we must not only consider Old Norse here, but also Old Icelandic. 1) diverse sources support the meaning "wild boar" for "jór": "They even changed the name of York itself from Eoforwic ('wild boar settlement') to Jorvik ('wild boar creek'), from which the modern name York has developed." Source: http://www.jorvik-viking-centre.co.uk/resources/activity%20sheets/city3.pdf "Jórvík is the Icelandic and was the Viking name for York, England. York had been founded as the Roman legionary fortress of Eboracum and revived as the English Northumbrian trading port of Eoforwic. It was first captured by Swedish Vikings from Gamla Uppsala in 866. It became the capital of a flourishing small kingdom that passed to the Norse of significant proportion from Østfold and what later became Bohuslän (north of Göta älv). [...] Offerings were made chiefly to Freyr(and sister goddess Freya), as he was the traditional Vanir god presiding over Uppsala and Jorvik itself was descriptive of his favourite enchanted animal, the boar." Source and further information: http://explanation-guide.info/meaning/Jorvik.html Actually, Jórvík was conquered from Norses from Østfold, which became later Bohuslän. I did not find any place with that name in modern Bohuslän. (but it must not be a city, it will probably rather be a bay or a creek...). 2) other sources support the meaning "horse, stallion" for "jór": - "JORUNNR: (Jórunnr): Old Norse name composed of the elements jór "stallion" and unna "to love."" Source: http://www.20000-names.com/female_norse_names.htm - "Bróðurbana sínum þótt á brautu mœti húsi hálfbrunnu hesti alskjótum þá er jór ónýtref einn fótr brotnar verðit maðr svá tryggrat þessu trúi öllu" Translation: "In his brother-slayer,though he is met on the road,in a half-burnt house,in a horse too-speedy --a steed is uselessif he breaks a foot --a man should not be so trustfulthat he trusts all these." Source: http://www.beyondweird.com/high-one.html - "The Vikings took over the area later and changed the name again, to Jórvík, meaning "Horse Bay" (the same as a place in modern Bohuslän in Sweden)." Source: http://www.vryork.com/ - maybe the solution is that "jór" could eventually mean "wild boar" in Old Norse, and the Norse understood the name so as they conquered it, but the name was originally given by the Vikings, and for them, "jòr" means horse (in Icelandic): "jór (gen. jós; pl. jóar, acc. jóa and jói, dat. jóm), m. poet. stallion, steed. jó-reið, f. riding on horseback;" Source: "Zoëga's A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic" http://www.northvegr.org/zoega/h234.php 3) This source gives two very similar prefixes for horse and boar: "Jó- 'horse' Jór- 'boar'" Source: http://hem.passagen.se/peter9/gram/l_namn.html It seems to be a poetic word. The normal words for horse are: hestr, hross, marr Source: http://www.yorku.ca/inpar/language/English-Old_Norse.pdf 4) Information about Bohuslän: "Bohuslän, (Latin: Bahusia; Norwegian: Båhuslen) is a province (landskap) in West Sweden (Västsverige). It borders Dalsland and Västergötland; as well as the Skagerrak arm of the North Sea; and Østfold in Norway. Bohuslän belonged to Norway until the Treaty of Roskilde in 1658." Source and further information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohusl%C3%A4n