In the Shadow of the Star: Discussion Thread (Part 1)

[mark12_30]

****THANK YOU BIRD***

Bird posted this on another discussion thread and it caught my eye. I'm going to quote it in full here because I think it is hugely pertinent and something I have always struggled with. Here goes:

(quote)Are you sure the words 'Man' and 'Woman' are used in reference to Hobbits? (end quote)

Bird's reply:
While Gandalf is technically correct, in that Tolkien states that Hobbits are related to Men, Halfling's themselves don't seem to be too fond of the comparison.

Tolkien seems to avoid the issue of common gender nouns for adult Halflings by using Old English colloquialisms. He refers to Hobbits as "gaffers" and "gammers", "lads" and "lasses", "gentlehobbits", etc. As to what the Hobbits called themselves, I would imagine that they had their own unique words.

Since there are so many distinct humanoid races in Middle Earth, calling oneself "a man" when you are actually a Halfing would get rather confusing. It's probably for the best that the Good professor deftly avoids making any references to it.

Okay. (Finally!) And Birdie, I buy that wholesale. I know we've waffled on this before (I remember a long discussion about calling Maura a "man", for instance) and I've never settled the issue.

Sharon, I'm probably going back to my most recent posts, and replacing "woman" with "lass". I know that Tolkien clearly states that hobbits are closer to men than anything else-- but Pippin sure reacted negatively to the use of the word in regard to Hobbits, and it always bugs me to call a hobbit a man, or a female hobbit a woman....

(Rebuttals welcome.)