Eboracum - Etymology

Etymology

The first known recorded mention of Eboracum by name is dated circa 95-104 AD and is an address containing the Latin form of the settlement's name, "Eburaci", on a wooden stylus tablet from the Roman fortress of Vindolanda in what is now the modern Northumberland. During the Roman period, the name was also written in the form Eboracum and Eburacum.

The etymology of Eboracum is uncertain as the language of the indigenous population of the area was never recorded. However, the generally accepted view of British history, is that the inhabitants of Britain at this time spoke a Celtic language related to modern Welsh. This language has been reconstructed from Latin place names and modern Celtic languages, and has been called by scholars Common Brythonic. The name "Eboracum" is thought to have derived from the Common Brythonic Eborakon which probably means "place of the yew trees". The word for "yew" was probably something like *eburos in Celtic (cf. Old Irish ibar "yew-tree", Irish: iobhar, Scottish Gaelic: iubhar, Welsh: efwr "alder buckthorn", Breton: evor "alder buckthorn"), combined with the suffix *-āko(n) "place" (cf. Welsh -og) meaning "place of the yew trees" (cf. efrog in Welsh, eabhrac in Irish Gaelic and eabhraig in Scottish Gaelic, by which names the city is known in those languages). The name is then thought to have been Latinized by replacing -acon with -acum, according to a common use noted in Gaul. The different Évry, Ivry, Ivrey, Ivory in France would all come from *Eboracum / *Eboriacum f. e. Ivry-la-Bataille (Eure, Ebriaco in 1023 - 1033), Ivry-le-Temple (Evriacum in 1199) Évry (Essonne, Everiaco in 1158), etc.

Otherwise *eburos can be found in ethnic tribal names such as the Celtiberian Eburanci in Spain, the Belgian Eburones and the Gaulish Eburovices ( > Évreux) in Gaul.

The Portuguese city of Évora (Ebora in Latin), which far precedes any settlement in Britain, is likely to share etymological roots with the city of York.