Orc (sometimes spelled Ork) comes from the Latin Orcus, a title of Pluto the ruler of the underworld. Hades and Dis Peter are other names Pluto is known by. Later it was used to refer to the criminal world and the underworld itself. The name "Orcus" seems to have been given to his evil and punishing side, as the god who tormented evildoers in the afterlife. Like the name Hades (or Hel, for that matter), "Orcus" could also mean the land of the dead. In Beowulf, ll: 112, Grendel's race is described as Orc-néas, which translates as "corpses of Orcus." The word appears in the Germanic languages without its Latin ending, in the more familiar form of "Orc". Tolkien derived his 'Orcs' from this passage in Beowulf, where the word was revived.

The word "orc" had long existed in English as the name of a type of sea monster. This derives ultimately Pliny the Elder's description of orca, modulated through the long tradition of Medieval Bestiaries. Charlemagne encountered and destroyed an orc that attacked his ship in the Mediterranean. In Ariosto’s epic Orlando Furioso, the name of "orc" was given to a sea monster that captured the damsel Angelica, and was fought by the hero Rogero riding a hippogriff (which later is used by Rowling in Harry Petter). This orc was huge, scaly, tusked, pig-nosed, and bristled.

From this usage, the word "orc" made it into English first by Drayton’s Polyolbion, an epic poem about Brutus the Trojan and the mythical founders of Britain. Orcs also appear in Milton’s Paradise Lost. Orc as a proper name is also one of William Blake’s characters as a positive figure, the embodiment of creative passion and energy:
The humanoid, non-maritime race of Orcs of Tolkien's invention are humanoid, roughly human-sized, ugly, and filthy. Although not dim-witted, they are portrayed as dull and miserable beings, who are only able to destroy, not to create.

In The Hobbit, Tolkien used the word “goblin"*** for Orcs, because he had not yet identified the world of The Hobbit with Middle-earth (which was written about several decades before The Hobbit, in early writings which later became The Silmarillion). Fortunately, Tolkien included some references to his mythology in The Hobbit, which later let him identify the lands of The Hobbit with his Middle-earth. In The Lord of the Rings, "Orc" is used predominantly, and "goblin" mostly in the Hobbits' speech. Before Tolkien wrote The Hobbit, he seems to have decided that Middle earth history ended at the end of the Second Age, and that the fall of Numenor changed the world into the prehistoric real world.

'...the word is as far as I am concerned actually derived from Old English orc "demon", but only because of its phonetic suitability...'
The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien No 144, dated 1953

Tolkien's "orcs" have become a fixture in fantasy fiction and role-playing games. In these derivative sources, orcs and goblins are usually considered distinct races of goblinoids. In some they were depicted with pig-like faces, although not in Tolkien. This may be a coincidence with Irish orc (cognate of English pork) that means 'swine'.

Dungeons & Dragons, Forgotten Realms, Earthdawn, Shadowrun, Warhammer, Warcraft, Final Fantasy, Utopia, Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura , ProjectRO and Hârn are some of the games that use orcs in their fantasy worlds.


*** A goblin is often described as an evil or mischievous creature grotesquely disfigured or elf-like phantom, or grotesque faeries of about dwarf height. According to some traditions, their name comes from Gob or Ghob, the king of the gnomes, whose inferiors were obviously called Ghob-lings. However, according to "The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English" the name probably derives from the Anglo-French *gobelin (medieval Latin gobelinus), which is probably a diminutive of Gobel, a name related to the world Kobold. 'Goblin' is also related to the French 'lubin'. They can also appear as animals. They are said to count the dead among their companions' They can weave nightmares out of gossamer and insert them into the ear of a sleeping human. Goblins ‘borrow’ horses from stables and ride them all night. This explained why horses were tired in the morning. They steal human women and children, and hide them away underground. Goblin women steal human babies, replacing them with ugly goblin babies or changelings.

Some goblin fairy tales are: The Benevolent Goblin (from Gesta Romanorum), The Goblin of Adachigahara (Japanese), Christina Rossetti, in the poem "Goblin Market", used goblins as symbols of earthly desires that tantalize and nearly destroy a girl who falls under their spell. Author George MacDonald, in The Princess and the Goblin, portrayed them as malevolent, subterranean creatures. The book is said to have been a childhood favorite of Tolkien’s.

(Thanks for the photo Solvejg. It is quite impressive).