Another item from the mind of Professor Tolkien. He describes the Orcs as "swart." Not wanting to waste the time of this good group, and I went and looked up the word, which I find is basically a synonym for "swarthy" or "tawny," and the citations I have found are pretty old, say, Elizabethan days.

Has anyone seen this word in contemporary use? Are there negative racial connotations? Just asking...