Orne

The Orne is a river in Grand Est, 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 long. It rises at an elevation of 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 .