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Very good. Stephen Send a noteboard - 03/01/2012 02:20:29 PM
Is "orc" in honour of Tolkien's birthday.

Apparently it was first recorded in 1605.


Nice to see it has a fairly continuous meaning across all recordings, and wasn't overtly repurposed by Tolkien.
"I mean, if everyone had a soul, there would be no contrast by which we could appreciate it. For giving us this perspective, we thank you." - Nate
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The OED word of the day - 03/01/2012 12:13:45 PM 535 Views
Very good. - 03/01/2012 02:20:29 PM 503 Views
Tolkien really broke with principles on that one. - 03/01/2012 02:47:27 PM 432 Views
According to him, he was reviving the Old English word for "demon". - 03/01/2012 06:35:49 PM 444 Views
Which, in turn, is from the Latin Orcus. - 03/01/2012 06:49:33 PM 428 Views
And then there's Ariosto's orcs - 03/01/2012 07:16:15 PM 401 Views
I had to buy that in paperback from amazon.it... *NM* - 03/01/2012 10:44:39 PM 149 Views
I got the Italian edition for free on my Kindle for iPad - 03/01/2012 11:01:15 PM 339 Views
Ends up coming from ορκος (Oath) I think. *NM* - 03/01/2012 07:23:42 PM 226 Views
I don't think that's likely. - 03/01/2012 10:44:15 PM 374 Views
And looking at my dictionary... - 03/01/2012 10:47:16 PM 350 Views
Nonetheless, it was a word in Old English. - 04/01/2012 11:12:39 AM 402 Views
Nothing is banned. The point is it wasn't an "English" word. - 04/01/2012 02:38:22 PM 414 Views

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