urco

orc

urco ("k"), stem *urcu- and pl. urqui, noun: an old word used in the lore of the Blessed Realm for anything that caused fear to the Elves during the March; by the Exiled Noldor the word was recognized as the cognate of Sindarin orch and used to mean "Orc". The Sindarin-influenced form orco was also used. (WJ:390)

urco

noun. bogey, orc

Cognates

• S. urug “bogey” ✧ WJ/390

Derivations

• ✶urku/urkō “orc” ✧ WJ/390
  • √RUK “terrible shapes and the fear they inspire, terrible shapes and the fear they inspire, [ᴹ√] demon” ✧ WJ/389

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
✶urku/uruku > urko	[uruku] > [uruko] > [urko]	✧ WJ/390

Variations

• urko ✧ WJ/390
• Urko ✧ WJI/Urko

orco

orc

orco ("k") noun "Orc", pl. orcor or orqui (WJ:390, ÓROK; pl. Orcor also in WJ:12, MR:74, 194). If the pl. form orqui is preferred, the word should be assigned the stem-form orcu-. Early "Qenya" has orc ("k") (orqu-) ("q") "monster, demon" (LT1:264; in LotR-style Quenya, no word can end in -rc.)

orch

Orc

pl1. yrch, pl2. orchoth** ** n. Orc. Nand. ūriſ.

orchoth

noun. the Orcs (as a race)

urug

noun. Orc (rarely used)

urug

noun. "bogey", anything that caused fear to the Elves, any dubious shape or shadow, or prowling creature

urug

noun. bogey

Cognates

• Q. urco “bogey, orc” ✧ WJ/390

Derivations

• ✶urku/urkō “orc” ✧ WJ/390
  • √RUK “terrible shapes and the fear they inspire, terrible shapes and the fear they inspire, [ᴹ√] demon” ✧ WJ/389

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
✶urku/uruku > urug	[uruku] > [uruko] > [uruko] > [uruk] > [urug]	✧ WJ/390

glamog

noun. an Orc, "a yelling one"

glamhoth

noun. barbaric host of Orcs

orch

orc

orch (pl. yrch**, archaic †yrchy, coll. pl. orchoth). (RGEO:66, Names:171, Letters:178, MR:195; WJ:390-91, VT46:7). Other terms: 1) urug (monster, bogey), pl. yryg, 2) glamog (i **lamog), pl. glemyg (in glemyg) (WJ:391), 3) ”

urug

bogey

urug (monster, orc), pl. yryg

urug

bogey

(monster, orc), pl. yryg

urc

noun. Orc

pl. yrc. In the Etymologies, the primitive form of this word is given as órku (defined as "goblin"), derived from an undefined stem ÓROK (LR:379).

This stem may be understood as a vowel-prefixed variant of the stem ROK "horse", assuming that this originally referred to the steed of the monstrous "dark Rider upon his wild horse" that haunted the Elves by Cuiviénen, assuming that the stem ROK was originally associated with Melkor's creatures. However, Tolkien later derived the Elvish words for "Orc" from a stem RUKU having to do with fear (WJ:389) and listed tentative primitive forms: urku, uruku, urkô. Since primitive final -u is lost in Nandorin (cf. Utum from Utubnu), the forms urku and uruku would evidently be capable of yielding Green-elven urc (while urkô would rather come out as *urca; cf. golda "Noldo" from ñgolodô). The plural form yrc clearly shows umlaut caused by the lost Primitive Quendian plural ending -î; cf. the umlaut caused by the primitive adjectival ending -i, primitive lugni "blue" yielding lygn.

ūriʃ

noun. orcs

glamhoth

noun. barbaric host of Orcs