Survey of English Place-Names

Historical Forms

• Jorvalle 1135–54 Dugdv.568

• Jorevall(e) 1142–96 Dugdv.569 1361 Archd

• Joresuals 1162 P

• Joraualle 1177 BM

• Gereuall(e) 1196,1218 FF 1244 Ass 1253 Baildon

• Gervaus 1200 Cur 1241 Pat 1283 Rich

• Gerwalle 1209 Pap

• Geravaus 1249 Baildon

• Gir(e)vall(e) c.1200 BM 1224 Pap 1225 Pat 1227,1235 Cl 1274 Ebor

• Gyrovall' 1242 Cl 1243 Fees 1283 Rich

• Jer(e)vall 1224 FF 1236 Cl 1249 Baildon

• Jerovall(e) 1253 Ch 1289 Ebor 1435 Archd

• Yorevall 1312 Ch

• Jervax, Gervax 1400,1480,1508 Test

• Jorovall 1427 NCyWills

• Gerveis, Gerveys 1530 Visit 1536 YChant

• Jarvaux 1539 Dugdv.578

• Geruis 1577 Saxton

Etymology

'The valley of the Ure' from OFr  vals . Like Rievaulx 73supra , Jervaulx is the name of a Norman monastic foundation.

The phonetic problems connected with this name and that of the river Ure (v. spellings 7 supra ) are the same, but some of these have been partly explained in Anglia , xlviii. 291 ff. The above spellings at first sight suggest that Jorevall is the earliest type; Zachrisson accepts this and tries to show that the Jerevall forms are derivatives of this (ANInfl 63). But most of these early Jorevall forms are from late MSS and it seems preferable to regard the Jerevall forms as being, if anything, the earlier.The OE  form of the river-name was Earþ (v. RNY 17) and according to certain ME sound-changes (cf. Yearsley 193supra ) earu could become ME  yere -, or with Scand  influence yore - (which is on record for the river-name). The Jerevall forms apparently contain this unrecorded form, yere -, of the river- name. Jorevall forms contain the well-evidenced Yore . By an AN sound-substitution of [dʒ] for [j] (v. IPN 104), Yerevall became [dʒerəval], from which the modern form is descended.There is, of course, some difficulty in the interpretation of the initial consonants of the spellings given above. According to Zachrisson (ANInfl 62), g , ȝ , j represent [dʒ], whilst y and sometimes i represent initial [j]. This cannot be accepted as being regular, for ȝ is often used for [j], and j and i are often indistinguishable in the court hand of the period when most of these instances occur. It is doubtful, therefore, if any of the Jorevall forms were ever pronounced with initial [dʒ], for it will be noticed that Gor -, which would indicate such a pronunciation, is never found.

It seems probable, therefore, that Jerevall , Gerevall , Girevall are the original forms of the p.n., derived from ME  *yere -, an unrecorded form of the river-name Ure, and this form of the p.n. underwent an AN sound-substitution of [dʒ] for [j], as indicated by spellings with g . At a later date, when Yore was the regular form of the river-name, this was substituted for Jere -, giving the forms Jorevall ; in this last case there is nothing to prove that the initial consonant was pronounced as [dʒ] as in the case of the Jerevall forms which have given the modern form [dʒaːvis]. This fact supports the idea that Jore - forms arise from substitution of the current form of the river-name.

The usual modern pronunciation of the name is [dʒəːvou]; this is simply a spelling pronunciation. The dialectal pronunciation [dʒaːvis] is rapidly passing into disuse; it is the regular development of ME  Gerevals .