Fantasy character creation

[aberdeen_ox]

The Return of the King last week made me wonder where the origin of many of Tolkien's species lies. I presume he cannot be the originator of orcs, elves and dwarves (though I imagine hobbits are his) so wondered if anyone knew of the origins or first literary references to the above creatures?

[starman700]

hobbits and orcs (not goblins)definately are his,elves,goblins, trolls and dwarves feature alot in norse and germanic myths and legends as for ents i think again his own creation but maybe based on the green man legends of old england

[firefly]

There were orks before Tolkein, and although the word 'hobbit' was invented by Tolkein, it is a halfling-like creature, in fact you call it a beardless dwarf. I think Beowulf would be an obvious contender to the first reference to many creatures.

[Quizmonster]

'Hobbit' is Tolkien's and means, according to him, 'hole-dweller'. It first appeared in 'The Hobbit', published in 1937.

'Orc' is much older and probably related to 'orca' which originally meant any sea-monster and still means 'whale'. There is also a likely connection with Latin 'orcus', suggesting 'demon', which is where we get our word 'ogre' - another form of monster - from. In Old English, that became 'orcneas'.

The 'elf' started life in Teutonic belief, where it was rather an unpleasant creature, spreading disease etc. Only later did it become the playful, mischievous, lovable creature we think of nowadays. The word appeared in English for the first time in the 16th century.

'Dwarf' appeared as 'duerg' in Old English - related to Germanic 'Zwerg' - as early as 700 AD. (The standard plural for 'dwarf' is 'dwarfs' rather than 'dwarves'.)