I'm afraid the word "hobbit" is trademarked so can't be used without permission. That's way
The Rings of Power series doesn't call the Harfoots "hobbits".
Of course you're right, Tolkien didn't invent the word. In addition to
The Denham Tracts, according to
English Dialect Dictionary: "sb. Wal. Also written hobit. A measure of corn, beans", attested in 1850.
Yes, Tolkien owns a trademark on it. Which means you can't use it (express it) in the same way.
But I can use the word Hobbit and put whatever game rules I want on it. They don't own that.
In OD&D, there is nothing in the book that describes a Hobbit.
One reads Hobbit and thinks, Tolkien! But that is not how trademark and copyright work.
If I don't describe what a Hobbit is, I can use it.
Edit: I can also talk about a Hobbit that's a fairy or some such. Tolkien doesn't own that. It's in the public domain.
I thought I'd avoid derailing another thread and resurrect this one, which I thought more in line with topic.
Here are a few other uses of the word "hobbit" in literature.
A Weapon
JOHNSON’S ENGLISH DICTIONARY, IMPROVED BY TODD, (1828)
archive.org/details/bub_gb_EXEUPL_Jv2MC/page/468/mode/2up?q=hobbit “HOBIT, ho’-bit. n.s. A small mortar to shoot little bombs.”
A NEW ENGLISH DICTIONARY ON HISTORICAL PRINCIPLES. YOLUME V. H TO K. (1901)
archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.207479/page/n327/mode/2up “Hobbits, var. HOWITZ Obs., a howitzer.”
The great art of artillery (1729)
www.google.com/books/edition/The_great_art_of_artillery_tr_from_the_F/W0oCAAAAQAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=hobbits+fire&pg=PA377&printsec=frontcover “...must all consist either of Crackers, Stars, Sparks, Rockets, of all Sorts, or of little Hobbits charged with the various Kinds of Fire-Balls.”
(ed. note: apparently, Hobbits can't be Wizards, but they can be some variation of charged wands.)
A Name (Place or Person)
A Treatise Upon Some General Principles of the Law (1885)
archive.org/details/actions05wait/page/308/mode/2up?q=hobbit “The party employing has the selection of the party employed, and it is reasonable that the one who has made choice of an unskillful or careless person to execute his orders should be responsible for any injury resulting from the want of skill or want of care of the person employed.
Hobbit v. London, etc. Railway, 4 Exch. 255."
ALUMNI DIRECTORY THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO 1861-1910
archive.org/details/alumnidirectoryu00univrich/page/270/mode/2up?q=hobbit The alphabetical index reads,
“Hobbit, Merrit” (p 271),"
but the actual entry on page 112 reads,
“Merritt Lorraine Hoblit, A.B. Prof, of Languages, Agricultural Coll., N.M.”
Never mind a misspelling somewhere.
The Annual Library Index (1910)
archive.org/details/annuallibraryin03unkngoog/page/n151/mode/2up?q=hobbit“Hobbit, Orpha B. The turning of Tortugas. Indep. 68: 1429-33 (30 Je 10).”
LITERARY ANECDOTES of the EIGHTEENTH CENTURY (1813)
archive.org/details/dli.granth.35144/page/286/mode/2up?q=Hobbits “------Rev. Mr. ---, of Hobbits, Suffolk, 1789, his library sold; iii 660.”
TRANSACTIONS of the ESSEX ARCHAELOGICAL SOCIETY, VOL. VII. (1900)
Chapter: Essex Field-Names
archive.org/details/transactionsess00socigoog/page/304/mode/2up?q=hobbits “Hobbits, Near and Far. 210”
(ed. note: 210 indicates a location in Dedham parish)