hobbit
nounEtymology Probably from hoppet, hobbet (“basket”).
1
A Welsh unit of weight, equal to four Welsh pecks, or 168 pounds.
2
Archaic An old unit of volume (2+¹⁄₂ bushels, the volume of 168 pounds of wheat).
hobbit
noun/ˈhɒbɪt/ · [-ɪʔ]
Etymology Coined in its current sense by J. R. R. Tolkien in the 1930s, featured in the novels The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Jocularly etymologized by him as from a hypothetical Old English *holbytla (literally “hole-builder”), from hol (“hole”) + bytlan (“to build”) + -a (“-er”). Tolkien was possibly influenced by similar terms for house-sprites (probably from Hob, a hypocoristic form of Robert), or an isolated mention of hobbits (with hobgoblins following immediately afterwards) in a list of sprites and bogies from the 19th-century Denham Tracts.
1
Fantasy A member of a fictional race of small humanoids with shaggy hair and hairy feet.
- It was his thirty-third birthday and already he had […] a little round tummy like a hobbit2008, Tom Holt, Falling Sideways, Orbit books,, →ISBN, page 3:
3
An extinct species of hominin, Homo floresiensis, with a short body and relatively small brain, fossils of which have been recovered from the Indonesian island of Flores.
- Although partial remains of other Hobbits have surfaced at the same site, they say it could have been an isolated colony of inbred people who shared the same genetic abnormalities.2007 September 20, Christopher Joyce, “Case Grows for ‘Hobbit’ as Human Ancestor”, All Things Considered, National Public Radio
- And in the island regions of southeast Asia, where the descendants of erectus, and the Hobbit, and any similar relict populations lived, climate changes would have greatly disrupted connections between regions and populations, as sea levels rose and fell by 100 metres or more.2011, Chris Stringer, The Origin of Our Species, Penguin, published 2012, page 215:
2 more examples
- The discovery of the Hobbit skeleton in Liang Bua cave in 2003 was an instant sensation. But what it said about human evolution was less clear. Discoverer Mike Morwood proposed that it was a shrunken Homo erectus, the same species that eventually evolved to become us; others suggested the Hobbits were descended from smaller, more primitive early humans such as Homo habilis or Australopithecus.2016 June 9, James Griffiths, “This is how the ‘Hobbits’ of Indonesia became so small”, in CNN:
- The hobbit became extinct 50,000 years ago, about the time the first humans arrived on Flores, but the Pacific rat lived on.2018, Tim Flannery, Europe: The First 100 Million Years, Penguin, published 2019, page 270:
- Derived terms
- dwobbit, fobbit, hobbitic, hobbitish, hobbitlike, hobbitness, hobbitry, hobbity
- Related terms
- halfling