Orne (Moselle)

The Orne is a river in Lorraine, north-eastern France, which is a left tributary of the Moselle and sub-tributary of the Rhine. Its source is in the hills northeast of Verdun. It flows east and joins the Moselle near Mondelange, between Metz and Thionville.

Name

"Orne" may originate from autura (a river, cf. Eure), or onna (a river) as mentioned in Endlicher's glossary of Gallic names De nominibus Gallicis, in which these words are translated into Latin as flumen.

If so, then there is no relationship with the name of the Orne river in Normandy, which is referred to as the Olina by Ptolemy, a homonym of Fluvius Olne, the Orne saosnoise in Sarthe, which Xavier Delamarre traces back to the Celtic olīnā (elbow).

Geography

The Orne is 85.8 kilometres (53.3 mi) long. It rises at an elevation of 320 metres (1,050 ft) in the Côtes de Meuse, in the commune of Ornes. It flows through Étain, Conflans-en-Jarnisy, Auboué, Homécourt, Jœuf, Moyeuvre-Grande, Rosselange, Rombas, Clouange, Vitry-sur-Orne, Gandrange and Richemont, where it joins the Moselle at an elevation of 155 metres (509 ft).

Orne

Orne (French pronunciation: ​[ɔʁn]) is a department in the northwest of France, named after the river Orne.

History

Orne is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution, on 4 March 1790. It was created from parts of the former provinces of Normandy and Perche.

Geography

Orne is in the region of Normandy neighbouring Eure, Eure-et-Loir, Sarthe, Mayenne, and Calvados. It is the only department of Normandy to be landlocked.

Economy

The largest town by a considerable margin is the prefecture, Alençon which is an administrative and commercial centre for what is still an overwhelmingly rural department. There are no large industrial centres: agriculture remains the economic focus of Orne.

Demographics

The inhabitants of the department are called Ornais.

The recorded population level peaked at 443,688 in 1836. Declining farm incomes and the lure of better prospects in the overseas empire led to a sustained reduction in population levels in many rural departments, and by the time of the 1936 census the recorded population stood at just 269,331. Once motor car ownership started to surge in the 1960s employment opportunities became less restricted and by 2008 the population level had recovered a little to 292,282.

Orne (river)

The Orne (Ptolemeus Olina) is a river in Normandy, within northwestern France. It discharges into the English Channel at the port of Ouistreham. Its source is in Aunou-sur-Orne, east of Sées. The Odon is one of its tributaries.

The Orne flows through the following departments and towns:

Name

The name of the Orne river in Normandy, which is referred to as the Olina by Ptolemy, is a homonym of Fluvius Olne, the Orne saosnoise in Sarthe, which Xavier Delamarre traces back to the Celtic olīnā (elbow).

Hydrology and water quality

The waters of the Orne are typically moderately turbid and brown in colour. pH levels of the Orne have been measured at 8.5 at the town of St. Andre sur Orne where summer water temperatures approximate 18 degrees Celsius. Electrical conductivity of the Orne has been measured at 30 micro-Siemens per centimeter.

See also

Notes

Orne (disambiguation)

Orne is the name of a political region in France. It may also refer to:

Moselle

The Moselle (French: la Moselle, IPA: [mɔzɛl]; German: Mosel; Luxembourgish: Musel) is a river flowing through France, Luxembourg, and Germany. It is a left tributary of the Rhine, which it joins at Koblenz. A small part of Belgium is also drained by the Moselle through the Sauer and the Our.

The Moselle "twists and turns its way between Trier and Koblenz along one of Germany's most beautiful river valleys." It flows through a region that has been influenced by mankind since it was first cultivated by the Romans. Today, its hillsides are covered by terraced vineyards where "some of the best Rieslings grow", and numerous ruined castles dominate the hilltops above wine villages and towns that line the riverbanks. Traben-Trarbach with its art nouveau architecture and Bernkastel-Kues with its traditional market square are two of the many popular tourist attractions on the Moselle river.

Name

The name Moselle is derived from the Celtic name form, Moseal, via the Latin Mosella, a diminutive form of Mosa, the Latin description of the Meuse, which used to flow parallel to the Moselle. So the Mosella was the "Little Meuse".

Moselle (riverboat)

The Moselle was a riverboat constructed in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was built between December 1, 1837 and March 31, 1838. The Moselle was considered one of the fastest river boats in operation at the time, having completed a record setting two day, sixteen hour trip between Cincinnati and St. Louis. On April 25, 1838, the Moselle, piloted by Captain Isaac Perin, suffered a boiler explosion just east of Cincinnati, killing 160 of the estimated 280–300 passengers. The boat had just pulled away from a dock near the neighborhood of Fulton, when all four boilers simultaneously suffered a catastrophic failure resulting in the total destruction of the ship from the paddlewheels to the bow. The ship drifted approximately 100 yards before sinking to the bottom of the Ohio river. Negligence may have been a factor in the explosion: many eyewitness reports claimed that Captain Perin had intended to race another riverboat at the time of the explosion, and therefore the pressure in the boilers was excessively high.

Mosel (wine region)

Mosel is one of 13 German wine regions (Weinbaugebiete) for quality wines (QbA and Prädikatswein), and takes its name from the Mosel River (French: Moselle). Before 1 August 2007 the region was called Mosel-Saar-Ruwer, but changed to a name that was considered more consumer-friendly. The wine region is Germany's third largest in terms of production but is the leading region in terms of international prestige. The region covers the valleys of the rivers Moselle, Saar, and Ruwer near Koblenz and Trier in the federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate. The area is known for the steep slopes of the region's vineyards overlooking the river. At 65° degrees incline, the steepest recorded vineyard in the world is the Calmont vineyard located on the Mosel and belonging to the village of Bremm, and therefore referred to as Bremmer Calmont. The Mosel is mainly famous for its wines made from the Riesling grape, but Elbling and Müller-Thurgau also contribute to the production. Because of the northerly location of the Mosel, the Riesling wines are often light, low in alcohol, crisp and high in acidity, and often exhibit "flowery" rather than "fruity" aromas.