origines humaines des hobbits

[Belgarion]

Une rapide recherche m'a permis de retrouver le post où l'on parlait de ça déjà.

voilà le passage intéressant :

History of Middle-Earth XII – The Peoples of Middle-Earth
Chap X – Of Dwarves and Men
III – The Drúedain (Púckel-men) p 309-311, 313-314

The Drûgs or Púkel-men are not however to be confused with or thought of as a mere variant on the hobbit theme. They were quite different in physical shape and appearance. Their average height (four feet) was only reached by exceptional hobbits; they were of heavier and stronger build; and their facial features were unlovely (judged by general human standard). Physically they shared the hairlessness of the lower face; but while the hear-hair of the hobbits was abundant (but close and curly), the Drûgs had only sparse and lank hair on their heads and none at all on their legs and feet. In character and temperament they were at times merry and gay, like hobbits, but they had a grimmer side on their nature and could be sardonic and ruthless; and they had or were credited with strange or magical powers. (…) Also the Drûgs were a frugal folk, and ate sparingly even in times of peace and plenty, and drank nothing but water. In some ways they resembled rather the Dwarves: in build and stature and endurance (though not in hair); in their skill in carving stone; in the grim side of their character; and in ‘strange powers’. Though the ‘magic’ skills with which the Dwarves were credited were quite different; also the Dwarves were much grimmer; and they were long-lived, whereas the Drûgs were short-lived compared with other kinds of Men.
(…)
Hobbits on the other hand were in nearly all respects normal Men, but of very short stature. They were walled ‘halflings’; but this refers to the normal height of men of Númenórean descent and of the Eldar, which appears to have been about seven of our feet. Their height at the periods concerned was usually more than three feet for men, thought very few ever exceeded three foot six; women seldom exceeded three feet. They were not as numerous or variable as ordinary Men, but evidently more numerous and adaptable to different modes of life and habitat than the Drûgs, and when they are first encountered in the histories already showed divergences in colouring, stature, and build, and their ways of life and preferences for different types of country to dwell in. In their unrecorded past they must have been a primitive, indeed ‘savage’ people, [note 55: In the original sense of ‘savage’; they were by nature of gentle disposition, neither cruel nor vindictive.] but when we meet them they had (in varying degrees) acquired many arts and customs by contact with Men, and to a less extent with Dwarves and Elves. With Men of normal stature they recognized their close kinship, whereas Dwarves or Elves, whether friendly or hostile, were aliens, with whom their relations were uneasy and clouded by fear. (…) For it is remarkable that the western Hobbits preserved no trace or memory of any language of their own. The language they spoke when they entered Eriador was evidently adopted from the Men of the Vales of the Vales of Anduin (…). This indicates a close association with Big Folk; thought the rapid adoption of the Common Speech in Eriador shows Hobbits to have been specially adaptable in this respect. (…)

[les Númenóréens sont les « High Men », les autres sont soit les « Men of Darkness » soit les « Middle Men ». Le terme de Middle Men s’est appliqué à tous ceux ayant une ‘sympathie’ pour l’Ouest]
It was a mark of all kinds of Men who had abjured the Shadow of Morgoth and his servants and wandered westward to escape it – and certainly included both the races of small stature, Drûgs and Hobbits.

Comme quoi lire les anciens messages n'est pas si inintéressant (même s'ils sont nombreux).

G.