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Originally Posted by Inziladun
I haven't got the books with me, but when Pippin and Merry are speaking with Treebeard about being added to his song of the creatures of Middle-earth, one of them suggests "half grown hobbits, the hole dwellers".
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Good point! So Pippin is not really bothered by being called “half”-size, presumably recognizing it is only an approximation. Still, Tolkien does say in
Unfinished Tales that Hobbits disliked the name Halfling. Possibly it was because the precise term
Halfling had been used as an insult. Using “half
grown” in in a formal way would remove much of the vindictiveness, something like referring to someone as a “religious fundamentalist” as opposed to a “fundy”.
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And later, Pippin seems to be rather unconcerned with his given title "Prince of the Halflings" in Minas Tirith, seeing it as no insult. Perhaps the feelings of Hobbits about the term "halfling" are really more connected to the apparent intent of the speaker.
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Yes. Yet when King Théoden first meets the Hobbits and recognizes them as “Halflings”, Pippin corrects him, saying, “Hobbits, if you please, lord. Or perhaps Pippin is correcting the term “Holbytlan” that Théoden also uses.
I have no difficulty in believing Tolkien when he says that Hobbits disliked the name Halfling but also am not surprised to see them accept the name when there is obviously no offence intended. Indeed Pippin introduces himself to he boy Bergil as “a halfling, hard, bold, and wicked!” When in Gondor speak as a Gondorian, when one can.