FOG orc/k vote

[Aiwendil]

Hmmm . . . your bit of fun has brought a new worry to mind, Lindil. It might go over a bit too well with the female movie fans if we go with "Keen-sight": Legolast is only one letter different.

As for Orc/k, I don't want to stop you from doing the research yourself, but I'll point out for you and for everyone what is, as far as I know, the main piece of evidence in favor of "-k". It's from "Myths Transformed" in Morgoth's Ring, essay IX:

The Elves from their earliest times invented and used a word or words with a base (o)rok to denote anything that caused fear and/or horror. It would originally have been applied to 'phantoms' (spirits assuming visible forms) as well as to any independently existing creatures. Its application (in all Elvish tongues) specifically to the creatures called Orks - so I shall spell it in The Silmarillion — was later.

This says nothing about LotR, but I think that, in the absence of other evidence, it is only natural to conclude that he meant to spell it thus not only in the Silmarillion, but also in LotR; and of course we cannot change LotR. This is the root of claim that we should retain Orc so as not to contradict LotR.

Edit: I should add that a bit further in the essay, he reverts to spelling it with a "c".

[ October 13, 2002: Message edited by: Aiwendil ]