Hobbit
fan's idea of a typical
Hobbit.]]
Hobbits are a fictional
race from J. R. R. Tolkien's
Middle-earth universe which first appears in the book
The Hobbit. They also play a major role in
The Lord of the Rings.
Description
Hobbits are
two to four feet tall, with slightly pointed ears and oversized furry feet. They are fond of an unadventurous bucolic life of farming, eating, and socializing. Living slightly longer than humans, Hobbits can sometimes live for up to 120 years (with 100 years average). The time at which a young Hobbit "comes of age" is 33, as compared to the human 21 years. Thus a 50 year old Hobbit would only be middle-aged. Hobbits also like to drink
ale in
inns, not unlike the English countryfolk, who were Tolkien's inspiration. We can also see that in the name Tolkien chose for the part of
Middle-earth where the Hobbits live: "
The Shire" is clearly reminiscent of the English county names (e.g., Lancashire, Shropshire — see
English Shire).
Origin
Hobbits are evidently related to Men, and are represented as an offshoot of that race. Their exact origin is unknown, but by the early
Third Age they were living in the Vales of
Anduin in Wilderland.
Hobbits are also called
Halflings (in
Sindarin,
perian singular and
periannath collective) due to their small stature. However, the term is slightly offensive to Hobbits, as to themselves they are not
half of anything, and certainly do not use the term to refer to themselves. Tolkien's etymology for
Hobbit is interesting as well: obviously constructed without prior intent, it would have been natural for him to connect it to the German prefix
hob meaning
small (e.g.
hobgoblin). However this prefix dates back "only" to the
13th century, too late by Tolkien's standards, and so he constructed an alternative etymology, from Old English
hol-bytla, "hole-dweller".
When later he began to work out the language relations further,
Hobbit was to be derived from the
Rohirric (actually Anglo-Saxon - which Rohirric parallels in Tolkien's universe)
Holbytlan (hole builders). In the original
Westron, the name was
Kuduk (Hobbit), derived from the actual Rohirric
kûd-dûkan (hole dweller).
According to Tolkien, the word
hobbit was the first element of
The Hobbit that he created. As a university lecturer, so the story goes, he was in the process of correcting reports when he started scribbling on a piece of paper and wrote, "In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit", and the multitude of stories sprang from that. It is good to note, though, that the idea of a hole dwelling little creatures was introduced to Tolkien by one of his students in a story he had written.
Some well-known Hobbits
Though in
The Hobbit it mentions that
Gandalf "was responsible for so many quiet lads and lasses going off into the Blue for mad adventures" no
female Hobbits are depicted in Tolkien's stories doing so; however Hobbit women do appear in his works, such as the formidable Lobelia Sackville-Baggins.
History
Historically, the Hobbits are known to have originated in the Valley of
Anduin, between
Mirkwood and the
Misty Mountains. According to
The Lord of the Rings, they have lost the genealogical details of how they are related to the rest of humankind. At this time, there were three
Hobbit-kinds, with different temperaments. The
Harfoots, the most numerous, were almost identical to the Hobbits as they are described in
The Lord of the Rings. The Stoors had an affinity for water, boats and swimming; the
Fallohides were an adventurous people. (Both of these traits were much rarer in later days.)
Some time near the beginning of the
Third Age, they undertook, for reasons unknown, but possibly having to do with
Mordor's power, the arduous task of crossing the
Misty Mountains. Some of the Stoors, however, stayed behind, and it is from these people that
Gollum would come many years later. The Hobbits took different routes in their journey westward, but eventually came to a land between the River
Baranduin (which they renamed
Brandywine) and the Weather Hills. There they founded many settlements, and the divisions between the Hobbit-kinds began to blur.
Around the year 1600 of the Third Age, two Fallohide brothers decided, again for reasons unknown, to cross the River Brandywine and settle on the other side. Large numbers of Hobbits followed them, and most of their former territory was depopulated. Only
Bree and a few surrounding villages lasted to the end of the Third Age. The new land that they found on the west bank of the Brandywine is called the
Shire.
A map of the Shire and surrounding regions may be found at
Eriador.
Usage outside Tolkien
"Hobbit" is a
trademark owned by the Tolkien estate, as are most of the names, places and artefacts included in books by
J. R. R. Tolkien. For this reason Dungeons & Dragons and other fantasy tend to refer to Hobbits and Hobbit-like races rather as
Halflings (''hin'' in the
Mystara universe,
hurthlings in
ADOM).
The name
hobbit had previously appeared in an obscure "list of spirits" by Michael Denham, which includes several repetitions. There is no evidence to suggest Tolkien used this as a source — indeed he spent many years trying to find out whether he really did coin the word. Denham's "hobbit spirits" (which are never referenced anywhere except in the long list) have no obvious relation to Tolkien's Hobbits, other than the name (which may possibly imply hob- "small", see below): Tolkien's Hobbits are small humans, not spirits. Nonetheless, some few people have suggested that the reference in the Denham list should invalidate the trademark. See
Hobbit (Denham) for more discussion.
The
lexeme hob, meaning
small, is a root word for
hobbledehoy,
hobgoblin, and hobyah. This may have influenced Tokien's name; see
Origin above.
Homo floresiensis, an extinct
species of
humans discovered in 2004, has been informally dubbed a "hobbit" by its discoverers.
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