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<blockquote data-quote="gizmo33" data-source="post: 2156882" data-attributes="member: 30001">orcs and hobbits&nbsp;Yea, I see it in modern dictionaries as &quot;torc&quot; (Irish) or &quot;twrch&quot; (Welsh) but I thought I remember seeing &quot;orc&quot; somewhere - might be because it shows up as a different part of speech - or might be dialect, archaic or something.&nbsp; But AFAIK it's not the source for Tolkien's orcs - although it might be the source of inspiration for the illustration in the MM1 showing orcs to be pig-headed.&nbsp; I don't think there's anything in Tolkien about orcs being pig-headed, or having anything to with pigs, but I'm not sure.&nbsp;The summary of what I've read about Tolkien is that orc derives from Old English for demon (as described in a previous post).&nbsp; For an example, you can find an Old English version of Beowulf on the web and do a text search.&nbsp; IMO hobbit was a word invented by Tolkien, although it probably resembles other words because words invented by Tolkien followed linguistic rules that real-world languages follow - and so IMO similarities/equivalences are bound to exist.&nbsp; But while &quot;kobold&quot;, &quot;goblin&quot; and such do exist as names for creatures in folklore (although admittedly not in their DnD form), I can't think of any examples of seeing &quot;hobbit&quot; outside of Tolkien - and I've done alot of looking.&nbsp; Although the folklore of the British isles contains a zillion words for fey and bogey-men like creatures (some too silly to be used in DnD).&nbsp;So, unless a Tolkien-scholar comes forward with some better information, IMO:1. Orc = name from Old English; personality/character invented by Tolkien2. Hobbit = name invented/developed by Tolkien; personality/character invented by Tolkien</blockquote>

[QUOTE="gizmo33, post: 2156882, member: 30001"] [b]orcs and hobbits[/b] Yea, I see it in modern dictionaries as "torc" (Irish) or "twrch" (Welsh) but I thought I remember seeing "orc" somewhere - might be because it shows up as a different part of speech - or might be dialect, archaic or something. But AFAIK it's not the source for Tolkien's orcs - although it might be the source of inspiration for the illustration in the MM1 showing orcs to be pig-headed. I don't think there's anything in Tolkien about orcs being pig-headed, or having anything to with pigs, but I'm not sure. The summary of what I've read about Tolkien is that orc derives from Old English for demon (as described in a previous post). For an example, you can find an Old English version of Beowulf on the web and do a text search. IMO hobbit was a word invented by Tolkien, although it probably resembles other words because words invented by Tolkien followed linguistic rules that real-world languages follow - and so IMO similarities/equivalences are bound to exist. But while "kobold", "goblin" and such do exist as names for creatures in folklore (although admittedly not in their DnD form), I can't think of any examples of seeing "hobbit" outside of Tolkien - and I've done alot of looking. Although the folklore of the British isles contains a zillion words for fey and bogey-men like creatures (some too silly to be used in DnD). So, unless a Tolkien-scholar comes forward with some better information, IMO: 1. Orc = name from Old English; personality/character invented by Tolkien 2. Hobbit = name invented/developed by Tolkien; personality/character invented by Tolkien [/QUOTE]

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