| Orc | |
|---|---|
 Tolkien wrote that his orcs were influenced by the goblins in George MacDonald's 1872 The Princess and the Goblin. Illustration "The goblins fell back a little when he began, and made horrible grimaces" by Jessie Willcox Smith, 1920 | |
|
Other Names |
Orc, Orc-né, Orcus |
|
First Appearance |
Beowulf (c. 700–1000 AD) |
|
Created by |
Unknown |
Origin[]
The orc was a sort of "hell-devil" in Old English literature, and the orc-né (pl. orc-néas, "demon-corpses") was a race of corrupted beings and descendants of Cain, alongside the elf, according to the poem Beowulf. Tolkien adopted the term orc from these old attestations, which he professed was a choice made purely for "phonetic suitability" reasons.
The Anglo-Saxon word orc, which Tolkien used, is generally thought to be derived from the Latin word/name Orcus, though Tolkien himself expressed doubt about this. The term orcus is glossed as "orc, þyrs, oððe hel-deofol" ("Goblin, spectre, or hell-devil") in the 10th century Old English Cleopatra Glossaries, about which Thomas Wright wrote, "Orcus was the name for Pluto, the god of the infernal regions, hence we can easily understand the explanation of hel-deofol. Orc, in Anglo-Saxon, like thyrs, means a spectre, or goblin."
In the sense of a monstrous being, the term is used just once in Beowulf, as the plural compound orcneas, one of the tribes belonging to the descendants of Cain, alongside the elves and ettins (giants) condemned by God:
"þanon untydras ealle onwocon eotenas ond ylfe ond orcneas swylce gigantas þa wið gode wunnon lange þrage he him ðæs lean forgeald" —Beowulf, Fitt I, vv. 111–14
"Thence all evil broods were born, ogres and elves and evil spirits —the giants also, who long time fought with God, for which he gave them their reward" —John R. Clark Hall, tr. (1901)
The meaning of Orcneas is uncertain. Frederick Klaeber suggested it consisted of orc < L. orcus "the underworld" + neas "corpses", to which the translation "evil spirits" failed to do justice. It is generally supposed to contain an element -né, cognate to Gothic naus and Old Norse nár, both meaning 'corpse'. If *orcné is to be glossed as orcus 'corpse', then the compound word can be construed as "demon-corpses", or "corpse from Orcus (i.e. the underworld)". Hence orc-neas may have been some sort of walking dead monster, a product of ancient necromancy, or a zombie-like creature.
Public Domain Appearances[]
All appearances or mentions of Orcs from before January 1, 1929 are in the public domain in the US.
Some notable appearances are listed below:
- Beowulf
Notes[]
- The concept of orcs has been adapted into the fantasy fiction of many authors, and into games of many different genres such as Dungeons & Dragons, Magic: The Gathering, and Warcraft.
- The term "orc" is used only once in the first edition of Tolkien's 1937 The Hobbit, which preferred the term "goblins". "Orc" was later used ubiquitously in The Lord of the Rings. The Hobbit will enter the public domain on January 1, 2033 while the first two books of Lord of the Rings will enter the public domain on January 1, 2050.