Halfling
(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
Halfling is another name for
J. R. R. Tolkien's
Hobbit,
[1] a fictional
race found in some
fantasy novels and
games. They are often depicted as similar to
humans except about half as tall.
Dungeons & Dragons began using the name
halfling as an alternative to
hobbit[2] for legal reasons.
[3]
Originally, "halfling" comes from the
Scots word
hauflin, meaning an awkward rustic teenager, who is neither man nor boy, and so half of both. Another word for halfling is "hobbledehoy" or "hobby". This usage of the word pre-dates both
The Hobbit and
Dungeons & Dragons.
[4]
Some fantasy stories use the term
halfling to describe a person born of a human parent and a parent of another race, often a human female and a male
elf.
Terry Brooks describes characters such as
Shea Ohmsford from his
Shannara series as a halfling of elf–human parentage. This kind of character is elsewhere called a
half-elf and is distinct from the fantasy race known as halflings. In
Jack Vance's
Lyonesse series of novels, "halfling" is a generic term for beings such as
fairies,
trolls and
ogres, who are composed of both magical and earthly substances.
[5]