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Originally Posted by Lith  I think I read somewhere that the word "orc" pre-dated Tolkien. But yeah, it's basically the same thing as a goblin. |
I did some looking into this, and it seems to have been resurrected by Tolkien from the story of Beowulf. Additionally, the word and variations of it hail from outside the realm of fictional writing, existing within languages such as Gaelic. (young pig) That would certainly explain why orcs are sometimes portrayed as pig-like.