Origine du mot "Hobbit"

[Mablung]

Est-ce que vous avez regardé dans le Seigneur des Anneaux, Appendice F ? Tolkien himself donne une réponse à votre question (tout en restant dans son univers) :

Hobbit is an invention. In the Westron the word used, when this people was referred to at all, was banakil 'halfling'. But at ths date the folk of the Shire and of Bree used the word kuduk, which was not found elsewhere. Meriadoc, however, actully records that the King of Rohan used the word kûd-dûkan 'hole-dweller'. Since, as has been noted, the Hobbits had once spoken a language closely related to that of the Rohirrim, it seems likely that kuduk was a worn-down form of kûd-dûkan. The latter I have translated, for reasons explained, by holbytla; and hobbit provides a word that mights well be a worn-down form of holbytla, if that name had occured in our ancient language.

Pour les origines réelles du sens du mot "Hobbit", The Encyclopedia of Arda a réalisé un article qui a l'air excellent sur l'origine du mot, en anglais, of course. (voir la définition de "Hobbit")