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What is the difference between elf and hobbit?

elf | hobbit |

As nouns the difference between elf and hobbit

is that elf is a luminous spirit presiding over nature and fertility and dwelling in the world of Álfheim (Elfland). Compare angel, nymph, fairy while hobbit is a fictional race of small humanoids with shaggy hair and hairy feet.

As an initialism ELF

is initialism of w:Earth Liberation Front|Earth Liberation Front|lang=en a radical environmentalism group.

elf

English

Noun

(elves) (wikipedia elf)
  • (Norse mythology) A luminous spirit presiding over nature and fertility and dwelling in the world of (Elfland). Compare angel, nymph, fairy.
  • * Shakespeare
  • Every elf , and fairy sprite, / Hop as light as bird from brier.
  • Any from a race of mythical, supernatural beings resembling but seen as distinct from human beings. Usually skilled in magic or spellcrafting; sometimes depicted as clashing with dwarves, especially in modern fantasy literature.
  • (fantasy) Any of the magical, typically forest-guarding races bearing some similarities to the Norse (through Tolkien's Eldar)
  • A very diminutive person; a dwarf.
  • Derived terms

    * elfin * elfinwood * elfish * Elfland * elflock * elven * elvish * light elves * dark elves

    See also

    * fay * fairy * brownie * dwarf * hobbit

    References

    * Marshall Jones Company (1930). Mythology of All Races'' Series, Volume 2 ''Eddic , Great Britain: Marshall Jones Company, 1930, pp. 220-221.

    hobbit

    English

    (Encyclopedic etymology) (wikipedia hobbit)

    Etymology 1

    The word hobbit has an unknown origin. However, as designating a diminutive legendary creature, it fits seamlessly into a category of English words in hob- for such beings. The Middle English word hobbe has manifested in many creatures of folklore as the prefix hob-. Related words are : hob, hobby, hobgoblin, Hobberdy Dick, Hobberdy, Hobbaty, hobbidy, Hobley, hobbledehoy, hobble, hobi, hobyn (small horse), hobby horse (perhaps from Hobin), Hobin (variant of the name Robin), Hobby (nickname for Robert), hobyah, Hob Lantern. The only source known today that makes reference to hobbits in any sort of historical context is the Denham Tracts by Michael Aislabie Denham. More specifically, it appears in the Denham Tracts, edited by James Hardy, (London: Folklore Society, 1895), vol. 2, the second part of a two-volume set compiled from Denham's publications between 1846 and 1859. The text contains a long list of sprites and bogies, based on an older list, the Discovery of Witchcraft, dated 1584, with many additions and a few repetitions. The term hobbit is listed in the context of boggleboes, bogies, redmen, portunes, grants, hobbits, hobgoblins, brown-men, cowies, dunnies. The most famous use comes from in 1937, featuring in the novels The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. Ostensibly from a hypothetical (etyl) ''*holbytla "hole-builder".

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A fictional race of small humanoids with shaggy hair and hairy feet.
  • * 2008 , , Falling Sideways , Orbit books, ISBN 1-84149-110-1, p. 3:
  • It was his thirty-third birthday and already he had a little round tummy like a hobbit
  • An extinct species of hominin, Homo floresiensis , with a short body and relatively small brain, fossils of which have been recovered from the Indonesian island of Flores.
  • * 2007 September 20, Christopher Joyce, “Case Grows for ‘Hobbit’ as Human Ancestor”, All Things Considered , National Public Radio:
  • Although partial remains of other Hobbits have surfaced at the same site, they say it could have been an isolated colony of inbred people who shared the same genetic abnormalities.
  • * 2011 , (Chris Stringer), The Origin of Our Species , Penguin 2012, p. 215:
  • And in the island regions of southeast Asia, where the descendants of erectus , and the Hobbit , and any similar relict populations lived, climate changes would have greatly disrupted connections between regions and populations, as sea levels rose and fell by 100 metres or more.

    See also

    * halfling

    Etymology 2

    Probably from hoppet, hobbet, (a basket).

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A Welsh unit of weight, equal to four Welsh pecks, or 168 pounds
  • (archaic) An old unit of volume (2½ bushels, the volume of 168 pounds of wheat).
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