>>96387092
Orcs are mer, orsimer is their actual name, which is translated to "pariah".
There are various origin stories, one of the most common being that they were once the followers of the god Trinimac, which got cursed and changed by Boethia. And thus his followers changed themselves as well and turned into ugly vagrants.
There is also the idea that they were "shat out" by Malaclath (or was it Boethia?), but can't find the source on that. Maybe just one of these memes circulating TES discussion.