the origin of hobbits

[Nufaciel]

Actually, this is what he said in the Hobbit:

It was often said (in other families) that long ago one of the Took ancestors must have taken a fairy wife. That is, of course, absurd, but certainly there was still something not entirely hobbitlike about them,and once in a while members of the Took-clan would go and have adventures.

If you look in Fellowship, you'll see that the Tooks are of the Fallohide branch of the Hobbits, who are bolder and more adventurous than the others.