Editing Pentland Firth (section)

==Etymology==
The name is presumed to be a corruption of the [[Old Norse]] "Petlandsfjörð",<ref>Anderson, Joseph (Ed.) (1893) ''Orkneyinga Saga''. Translated by Jón A. Hjaltalin & Gilbert Goudie. Edinburgh. James Thin and Mercat Press (1990 reprint). {{ISBN|0-901824-25-9}}</ref> meaning "the fjord of Pictland", and is completely unrelated to the [[Pentland Hills]] near [[Edinburgh]].{{Cn|date=February 2025}}

Prior to the Norse occupation of Orkney the strait was known as the "Sea of Orcs" – a reference to the [[Picts|Pictish]] tribe who inhabited Orkney. Such was their marine prowess that there are also instances of this name referring to the sea lanes of the entire west coast of Scotland down to [[Kintyre]]. One version of the 9th-century ''[[Historia Brittonum]]'' states that "the Britons originally filled the whole island with their peoples from the English Channel to the Sea of Orcs".<ref>Watson (1994) pp. 62–63</ref><ref>"Britons" in this case means the [[British language (Celtic)|Brythonic]]-speaking peoples.</ref>