Goblins, Orcs, and Arwen - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

zifnab · 04-26-2002, 10:42 AM

Orc is not an English word. It occurs in one or two places but is usually translated goblin (or hobgoblin fot he larger kinds). Orc is the hobbits' form of the name given at that time to these creatures, and it is not connected at all with orc, ork, applied to sea-animals of dolphin-kind. - The Hobbit

Orcs (the word is as far as I am concerned actually derived from Old English orc 'demon', but only because of its phonetic suitability) are nowhere clearly stated to be of any particular origin. But since they are servants of the Dark Power, and later of Sauron, neither of whom could, or would, produce living things, they must be 'corruptions'. They are not based on direct experience of mine; but owe, I suppose, a good deal to the goblin tradition (goblin is used as a translation in The Hobbit, where orc only occurs once, I think), especially as it appears in George MacDonald, except for the soft feet which I never believed in. The name has the form orch (pl. yrch) in Sindarin and uruk in the Black Speech. - Tolkien letter 144 To Naomi Mitchison

04-26-2002, 10:42 AM	#6
zifnab Shade of Carn Dûm Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: omni-presence Posts: 329	Orc is not an English word. It occurs in one or two places but is usually translated goblin (or hobgoblin fot he larger kinds). Orc is the hobbits' form of the name given at that time to these creatures, and it is not connected at all with orc, ork, applied to sea-animals of dolphin-kind. - The Hobbit Orcs (the word is as far as I am concerned actually derived from Old English orc 'demon', but only because of its phonetic suitability) are nowhere clearly stated to be of any particular origin. But since they are servants of the Dark Power, and later of Sauron, neither of whom could, or would, produce living things, they must be 'corruptions'. They are not based on direct experience of mine; but owe, I suppose, a good deal to the goblin tradition (goblin is used as a translation in The Hobbit, where orc only occurs once, I think), especially as it appears in George MacDonald, except for the soft feet which I never believed in. The name has the form orch (pl. yrch) in Sindarin and uruk in the Black Speech. - Tolkien letter 144 To Naomi Mitchison __________________ Facebook.