Etymologically
Log in

Orcus

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 23 October 2026 at 05:52. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈɔr.kʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈɔr.kus][1]

Forms

Orcus m (genitive Orcī); second declension[1]

Etymology

The origin is unknown.[1][2] Some refer it to Proto-Indo-European *h₂erk- (“to hold, shut in”),[1] and Pokorny tentatively places it under that root as “the one who shuts in”,[3] as Walde had done by connecting it with arceō (“to shut in, keep off”).[4] Others refer it to Ancient Greek ὅρκος (hórkos, “oath”).[1][5]

Festus reports Verrius Flaccus' statement that the ancients called it ⟨uragus⟩, and Lewis and Short relate it to urgeō (“to press”).[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

An epigram of Naevius, quoted by Gellius, has the spelling Orchus;[7][5] Ennius already uses it of the god of death, in “the heavy assault of Orcus strikes me”.[7][8]

Semantic evolution

It was both the god of the underworld, identified with Dis or Pluto, and the underworld itself; the two are seldom clearly apart.[7][9] Plautus speaks of sacrificing to Orcus, Terence of being brought back from Orcus, Lucretius of men calling on Orcus with dreadful cries, and Horace calls Charon satelles Orci, the attendant of Orcus.[7] So it also came to mean death, as in Horace's Orcum moror?, “am I keeping death waiting?”.[9][5] Cicero calls Verres a second Orcus who had come to Henna.[9]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant the infernal regions.[10] Italian orco (“ogre”) continues it, and through that word French gave English ogre;[2][9] English orc may also go back to it.[2]

Timeline

  • c. 235–200 BC – An epigram of Naevius has the spelling Orchus.[7][8]
  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus speaks of sacrifices to Orcus.[7][8]
  • 204–169 BC – Ennius uses it of the god of death.[7][8]
  • 190–159 BC – Terence uses it of the underworld.[7][8]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace calls Charon the attendant of Orcus.[7][8]
  • 1590s – English orc.[2]
  • 1713 – English ogre, from French, from Italian orco.[2]

Meanings

Proper noun

  1. (Roman mythology) Orcus, the god of the underworld, Dis; often a personification of death.[7][5][9]
  2. The underworld, the abode of the dead;[7][5][10] (Ecclesiastical Latin) hell.[7][5][10]

Word family

  • orcīniānus
  • English ogre
  • English orc

Usage notes

Isidore of Seville gives Orcus as another name for Pluto, as if “the receiver of the dead”, and says that the vessel called orca is named from it.[11]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern; Munich: Francke
  4. ^ Walde, Alois (1906), Lateinisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
  5. ^ a b c d e f Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  6. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  9. ^ a b c d e Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  10. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  11. ^ Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).