Pre-Tolkien Orcs in myths or folklore?

Question

So what I'm trying to understand is what exactly pre-Tolkien orcs were like in regards to folklore. I understand that Tolkien has had a massive influence on how we conceptualize many creatures from different myths such as dragons, wargs, and dwarves, but in all these cases they existed in a defined form before Tolkien used them in his stories. Orcs seem to be a bit different because I haven't found one or a few myths where they exist as their own thing.

Were orcs even a single creature pre-Tolkien or did he pull from multiple sources to create his own amalgamation? Are there any myths where I can find them?

Answer 1

Blake came before Tolkien, and Tolkien definitely knew the work of Blake.

In Blake's mythology, Orc is a fallen entity who embodies rebellion, and opposes the forces of order and tradition, represented by Urizen.
_{See: America, A Prophecy}

I'm going to have to revisit Orcus from Roman Mythology, and will append this answer when I do, but I'd be surprised if there wasn't a connection--Tolkien was a very fine scholar and linguist, and almost certainly knew the classical material inside and out. Nothing in Tolkien seems to be random.

Transmogrifying these precedents into a race of chthonic nemeses to the Dwarves and Elves certainly seems to be an innovation of Tolkien's, and rings sufficiently true (poetic truth) to have influenced a major swathe of modern fantasy, where Tolkien's conception becomes formalized through Dungeons & Dragons and many subsequent fantasy writers.