The Great And Little Ormes

[poliphilo]

Llandudno lies between two rocky headlands- the Great Orme and the Litlle Orme. Here's the great Orme.



And here's the Little Orme.



And here's The Little Orme again, shot from the Great Orme. Yes I climbed to the top and it's very steep and my legs are killing me. 



Looks like a great serpent sliding out to sea, doesn't it? I've got it into my head that the word "orme" is related to the old English "wurm" meaning serpent or dragon- but I can't find any  conformation.

Comments

[shewhomust.livejournal.com]

"Orm" is a dragon name in LeGuin - ah, here we are, it's Scandinavian...

[saare-snowqueen.livejournal.com]

I found this in Wikipedia.

Both the Great and Little Ormes have been etymologised to the Old Norse word for sea serpent (transliterated to urm (or orm) and pronounced as /ǫrɱ/ in the IPA). (The modern day word, Orme, is pronounced as [ɔːɱ] in English). Marauding Vikings are thus said to have believed that the Ormes (and the wider Creuddyn Peninsula) resembled a sea serpent - with the Great Orme being the serpent's head - as their boats came in. But it is very difficult to substantiate this belief because the Vikings left us no written texts, because it seems unlikely that the Vikings ever colonised the area (there are no other Norse names in Gwynedd), and because etymology is a notoriously imprecise tool.

[mummm.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry that your legs are sore but that sure is a wonderful photo!

[pondhopper.livejournal.com]

Yes, "orme" is sea serpent...I see others have found the same resources I did.

What lovely views you had. Is the blue balcony railing your hotel? Nothing like a good climb to make you realize which muscles aren´t used enough.

:)

[sovay]

Looks like a great serpent sliding out to sea, doesn't it?

Have you read Geraldine McCaughrean's The Stones Are Hatching? Headlands like sleeping dragons are an important part of the narrative.

[richenda.livejournal.com]

Well, I'll be .....
I've always known that the Orme was a sea serpent, but I'd never msde the connection with worm!
LLandudno was built by the Mostyn family as a holiday resort, but I've never done any research into the chronology of naming the Orme.

[besideserato.livejournal.com]

As always excellent pictures. What kind of camera do you have?