Orc in common to them. A monster called "Orcus" is mentioned in Edmund Spenser's "Faerie Queene" (Book II, Canto XII, line xlvii). The word ultimately comes from Latin "Orcus", the demonic Roman god of death, who should not be confused with Pluto, the god of the underworld, and has transformed by several stages from the meanings "underworld", "hell", "devil", "evil creature" to "ogre". Tolkien and the lexicons he used attributed the origin of the doubtful Old English "orc" to "Orcus" and in one of his invented languages, the word for orc also had the form "orco". Words derived from or related
Orcus chiefly worshipped in rural areas; he had no official cult in the cities. This remoteness allowed for him to survive in the countryside long after the more prevalent gods had ceased to be worshipped. He survived as a folk figure into the Middle Ages, and aspects of his worship were transmuted into the wild man festivals held in rural parts of Europe through modern times. Indeed, much of what is known about the celebrations associated with Orcus come from medieval sources. From Orcus' association with death and the underworld, his name came to be used for demons and other underworld