The king, you knew Tolkien would be showing up here sooner or later.

No citations were found that predated Tolkien's 1937 use in the book of the same name, so that's what's given as hobbit's earliest usage in OED.

So even though JRR couldn't remember where he'd first heard of hobbits, it turns out his denial of inventing them was justified.

These are my top ten underrated fantasy stories (or series) published after J. R. R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit".

Fascinating…for every Tolkien reader it is a must'.