Orcs... were elves?

[Galin]

Originally Posted by Galin

(...) Or did Orcs dwindle maybe, and at first 'regular' orcs from the First Age were taller?

I stumbled across an interesting note from the 1930s -- the early-ish decade being notable here because we are still well enough away from a finished, published The Lord of the Rings (1954, 1955), in which a huge orc-chieftain (who arguably must be an uruk given a previous statement) is almost man-high -- as the list notes...

'... sometimes translated 'goblins' but they were of nearly human stature.' JRRT, 1930s wordlist, The Lost Road And Other Writings