The word can probably be traced to Orcus. This is a different name for Pluto or Hades. Pliny the Elder writes about orcs in his "Naturalis historia". They are long-toothed sea monsters. Ludovico Ariosto (1474-1533)wrote an epic "Orlando Furioso": There, the virgin Angelica is captured by a sea monster called orc. The hero, Rogero, is able to free her as he rode a Hippogriff. The Latin name of the Killer Whale, "Orcinus orca" is }likely to come from that story. There is another creature called "orc" in "Orlando Furioso": a blind man-eating giant who abducts King Norandin of Damascus and his lover Lucina. This orc cannot be vanquished; only fooled by trickery.