Hobbits

[Hakon]

Where did Tolkien get the idea for Hobbits? To clear things up I am referring to the race and not the book. I have heard many different theories about this but I have no idea which one is true. One is that it is a combination of the word Human and Rabbit, that he wanted to make a hybrid creature between the two and a Hobbit is what he came up with. Another is that the word Hobbit just popped into his head and he then had a dream about what it was. I do not believe either of those and those are the two I have heard the most. Any ideas on where the idea for this race came from?

[Rumil]

Apparently he was marking exam scripts and just randomly wrote 'In a hole in the ground there lived a Hobbit' the word seems to have caught his fancy so he had to go back and invent the story.

[Morsul the Dark]

I studied this for a speech i had to give in class a few years back-

hobbit... hol-bytal hole dweller in old english same with middle earth comes from the old english name of europe.

now the rsce themselves like their descriptions apparently is taken from another children's story.

[Mithadan]

So the phrase "In a hole in the ground there lived a Hobbit..." would be a bit of word play. In a hole in the ground there lived one who lives in holes in the ground...

I recall reading that in the late 19th or very early 20h Century there was a book about a diminutive people that was very popular among children. Some have suggested that this book may have inspired or prompted Tolkien's outline of what a Hobbit was.

[Lindale]

I remember a literary theory--forgot the name though--which says that influence studies is quite an absurdly difficult task... to ask how this author thought about that concept is almost impossible, even if that author admitted, in writing or orally, about his possible "influences."

[davem]

There was this little exchange on Futurama which might shed some light on the problem

``Is that a hobbit over there?'' followed by, ``No, that's a hobo and a rabbit. But they're making a hobbit,''

[narfforc]

According to John Rateliff's Book The History of The Hobbit, Return to Bag-end, the word Hobbit is included in a list published by The Folklore Society between 1846 and 1895. There is however no proof that Tolkien ever read any of the said articles.

[Galin]

Originally Posted by Morsul the Dark

hobbit... hol-bytal hole dweller in old english same with middle earth comes from the old english name of europe.

Holbytla is not an Old English word however, it's a word Tolkien ultimately made up out of Old English elements, to help with his notion of translation.

[Morsul the Dark]

sorry thats what I meant its like a conjunction

[Hakon]

I see. It sounds like he just kind of came up with hobbits, not like he intended to create a race and put hours of work into it. To me that is amazing. So many writers spend too much time on creating or trying to create a race of some sort.