Editing Orkney (section)

==Etymology==
[[Pytheas]] of [[Massalia]] visited Britain – probably sometime between 322 and 285&nbsp;BC – and described it as triangular in shape, with a northern tip called ''Orcas''.<ref name="Breeze">Breeze, David J. "The ancient geography of Scotland" in Smith and Banks (2002) pp. 11–13.</ref>
This may have referred to [[Dunnet Head]], from which Orkney is visible.<ref name="jarehro">[http://www.orkneyjar.com/history/earlyrefs.htm "Early Historical References to Orkney"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090615010122/http://www.orkneyjar.com/history/earlyrefs.htm |date=15 June 2009 }} Orkneyjar.com. Retrieved 27 June 2009.</ref> Writing in the 1st century&nbsp;AD, the Roman geographers [[Ptolemy]]<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ptolemaeus |first=Claudius |author-link=Claudius Ptolemaeus |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vnRXAAAAcAAJ&dq=%E1%BD%88%CF%81%CE%BA%E1%BD%B1%CE%B4%CE%B5%CF%82&pg=PA74#v=onepage&q=%E1%BD%88%CF%81%CE%BA%E1%BD%B1%CE%B4%CE%B5%CF%82&f=false |title=Claudii Ptolemaei Geographia: 1 |last2=Nobbe |first2=Karl Friedrich August |publisher=[[Tauchnitz]] |year=1843 |pages=74 |language=grc}}</ref> and [[Pomponius Mela]] called the islands {{lang|la|Orcades}} (Ancient Greek: Όρκάδες), as did [[Tacitus]] in AD 98, claiming that his father-in-law [[Gnaeus Julius Agricola|Agricola]] had "discovered and subjugated the Orcades hitherto unknown"<ref name="jarehro"/><ref>{{cite book |author=Tacitus |author-link=Tacitus |orig-date=c. 98 |title=Agricola |at=Chapter 10 |quote={{lang|la|ac simul incognitas ad id tempus insulas, quas Orcadas vocant, invenit domuitque }} }}</ref> (although both Mela and [[Pliny the Elder|Pliny]] had previously referred to the islands<ref name="Breeze"/>). The [[Byzantine]] [[John Tzetzes]] in his work ''Chiliades'' called the islands Orcades.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theoi.com/Text/TzetzesChiliades8.html|title=TZETZES, CHILIADES BOOK 8 - Theoi Classical Texts Library|website=www.theoi.com}}</ref>

Etymologists usually interpret the element {{lang|xpi|orc-}} as a [[Picts|Pictish]] tribal name meaning "young pig" or "young [[wild boar|boar]]".{{#tag:ref|The proto-Celtic root {{lang|cel-x-proto|φorko-|italic=yes}}, can mean either pig or [[salmon]], thus giving an alternative of "island(s) of (the) salmon".<ref>[http://www.wales.ac.uk/Resources/Documents/Research/CelticLanguages/ProtoCelticEnglishWordlist.pdf "Proto-Celtic – English Word List"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101231141619/http://www.wales.ac.uk/Resources/Documents/Research/CelticLanguages/ProtoCelticEnglishWordlist.pdf |date=31 December 2010 }} (pdf) (12 June 2002) University of Wales. p. 101.</ref>|group="Notes"}}<ref name=Waugh>
Waugh, Doreen J. "Orkney Place-names" in Omand (2003) p. 116.</ref> Speakers of [[Old Irish]] referred to the islands as {{lang|sga|Insi Orc}} "islands of the young pigs".<ref>[[Julius Pokorny|Pokorny, Julius]] (1959) [http://www.indo-european.nl/%5Cindex2.html] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110514141357/http://www.indo-european.nl/index2.html|date=14 May 2011}} {{lang|de|[[Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch]]|italic=yes}}. Retrieved 3 July 2009.</ref><ref name="jaroo">[http://www.orkneyjar.com/placenames/orkney.htm "The Origin of Orkney"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090606003827/http://www.orkneyjar.com/placenames/orkney.htm |date=6 June 2009 }} Orkneyjar.com. Retrieved 27 June 2009.</ref> The [[archipelago]] is known as {{lang|cy|Ynysoedd Erch}} in modern [[Welsh language|Welsh]] and {{lang|gd|Arcaibh}} in modern [[Scottish Gaelic]], the {{lang|gd|-aibh}} representing a [[fossilization (linguistics)|fossilized]] [[prepositional case]] ending. Some earlier sources alternatively hypothesise that Orkney comes from the Latin {{wikt-lang|la|orca}}, whale.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Strictures on Mr. Laing's Dissertation on the Poems of Ossian |journal=The Scots Magazine |volume=64 |date=August 1802 |page=651 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B1YLAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA222 |access-date=10 February 2019 |archive-date=18 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200818225112/https://books.google.com/books?id=B1YLAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA222 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Pope |first=Alexander |title=Ancient History of Orkney, Caithness, & the North |publisher=Peter Reid |location=Caithness |date=1866 |postscript=. (English translation, with translator's notes, of Torfaeus, Thormodus, 1697) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B1YLAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA222 |access-date=10 February 2019 |archive-date=18 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200818225112/https://books.google.com/books?id=B1YLAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA222 |url-status=live }}</ref> The Anglo-Saxon monk [[Bede]] refers to the islands as {{lang|la|Orcades insulae}} in ''[[Ecclesiastical History of the English People]]''.<ref>{{cite book |last=Plummer |first=Carolus |title=Venerabilis Baedae Historiam Ecclesiasticam |trans-title=Ecclesiastical History of Bede |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Jx-b2EpchX4C&pg=PA1 |year=2003 |publisher=Gorgias Press |isbn=978-1-59333-028-6 }}{{Dead link|date=June 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

[[Norwegians|Norwegian]] settlers arriving from the late ninth century reinterpreted ''orc'' as the [[Old Norse]] {{lang|non|orkn}} "[[pinniped|seal]]" and added {{wikt-lang|non|ey|eyjar}} "islands" to the end,<ref>Thompson (2008) p. 42.</ref> so the name became {{lang|non|Orkneyjar}} "Seal Islands". The plural suffix {{lang|non|-jar}} was later removed in English leaving the modern name ''Orkney''. According to the {{lang|la|[[Historia Norwegiæ]]|italic=yes}}, Orkney was named after an [[earl]] called Orkan.<ref>[http://www.vsnrweb-publications.org.uk/Text%20Series/Historia%26Passio.pdf "A History of Norway", vol. XIII] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160221232519/http://www.vsnrweb-publications.org.uk/Text%20Series/Historia%26Passio.pdf |date=21 February 2016 }} Translated by Devra Kunin pp. 7–8</ref>

The Norse knew [[Mainland, Orkney]] as {{lang|non|Megenland}} "Mainland" or as {{lang|non|Hrossey}} "Horse Island".<ref name="Haswell-Smith 2004 p. 354">Haswell-Smith (2004) p. 354.</ref> The island is sometimes referred to as ''Pomona'' (or ''Pomonia''), a name that stems from a 16th-century mistranslation by [[George Buchanan]], which has rarely been used locally.<ref>Buchanan, George (1582) [http://www.philological.bham.ac.uk/scothist/ ''Rerum Scoticarum Historia: The First Book''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110609004211/http://www.philological.bham.ac.uk/scothist/ |date=9 June 2011 }} The University of California, Irvine. Revised 8 March 2003. Retrieved 4 October 2007.</ref><ref>[http://www.orkneyjar.com/placenames/pomona.htm "Pomona or Mainland?"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200706190859/http://www.orkneyjar.com/placenames/pomona.htm |date=6 July 2020 }} Orkneyjar.com. Retrieved 4 October 2007.</ref>

Usage of the plural "Orkneys" dates from the 18th century or earlier and was used by for example [[Walter Scott|Sir Walter Scott]]. From the mid-19th century onwards this plural form has fallen out of use in the local area although it is still often used, particularly by publications based outside Scotland.<ref name=Anderson>Anderson, Peter [http://www.orkneyjar.com/placenames/orkneys.htm “Is ‘The Orkneys’ Ever Right?”] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090808043908/http://www.orkneyjar.com/placenames/orkneys.htm |date=8 August 2009 }} Orkneyjar. Retrieved 8 January 2024.</ref>{{#tag:ref|Anderson notes "'The Orkneys' is now, perhaps thankfully, out of fashion, but the fact is that it was once in fashion."<ref name=Anderson/> Many media organisations, including the [[BBC]] and [[The Guardian]], advise against using "the Orkneys" in their style guides,<ref>{{cite news |title=Guardian and Observer Style Guide |url=https://www.theguardian.com/guardian-observer-style-guide-o |website=The Guardian |date=23 December 2020 |access-date=6 October 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=News Style Guide |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsstyleguide/o |website=BBC |access-date=6 October 2024}}</ref> although both continue to use the term occasionally.<ref>Clark, Tom (17 April 2023) [https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/apr/17/the-big-idea-why-we-need-a-triple-lock-against-poverty “The big idea: why the UK needs a triple lock against poverty”]. ‘’The Guardian’’. Retrieved 8 January 2024.</ref><ref>[https://www.bbc.com/mediacentre/mediapacks/winterwatch-2024-everything-you-need-to-know “Winterwatch 2024 - Meet the presenters and find out more about this season's wildlife stories”.] BBC “Winter Watch”. Retrieved 8 January 2024.</ref>
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