Which Old English work inspired J.R.R. Tolkien’s word orc?

J.R.R. Tolkien’s use of the word orc was influenced by the Old English poem Beowulf.

In Beowulf, the plural form orcneas appears in a passage describing monstrous beings descended from Cain. Tolkien knew the poem intimately as a scholar and drew on its vocabulary and imagery when developing the creatures later called Orcs in Middle-earth. His 1936 lecture “Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics” also demonstrated how seriously he treated the poem’s monsters.

Tolkien’s Orcs are not simply identical to the beings in Beowulf. In his legendarium they are corrupted or created servants of evil, associated first with Morgoth and later with Sauron. Their origins vary across Tolkien’s notes and drafts, and the author never settled every detail into one final account.

The English word orc also has related historical forms in other Germanic traditions. Tolkien’s spelling and mythology therefore combine an old literary word with his own invented history. The term should not be confused with uruk, a related name used for powerful Orcs in Tolkien’s languages.