The Encyclopedia of Arda - an interactive guide to the world of J.R.R. Tolkien
Dates
First recorded in III 1050
Race
Divisions
Cultures
Pronunciation
koo'd-doo'kan
Meaning
'Hole-dweller'
Other names
Evolved into the later form Kuduk; also known as Banakil, Halflings, Hobbits, Holbytlan, Little Folk, Little People, Periannath

Indexes:

About this entry:

  • Updated 30 June 2023
  • This entry is complete

Kûd-dûkan

‘Hole-dweller’

"...and now here before my eyes stand yet another of the folk of legend. Are not these the Halflings, that some among us call the Holbytlan?"
Words of Théoden
The Two Towers III 8
The Road to Isengard

The name used in Rohan for legendary creatures standing half the size of a Man. In the War of the Ring it was discovered by the Rohirrim that these people were real: they were, in fact, the Hobbits. The legends had come down, no doubt, from the time these two peoples had lived close together in the Vales of Anduin long before.

Kûd-dûkan was the actual name used in Rohan, but in the text of The Lord of the Rings it is rendered in its Old English equivalent: hence the word Holbytlan in Théoden's exclamation above. In the Shire and in Bree, this ancient word had been worn down to Kuduk, and that is the actual form of the name much better known in its translated form of 'Hobbit'.


See also...

Banakil, Holbytlan, Kuduk

Indexes:

About this entry:

  • Updated 30 June 2023
  • This entry is complete

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