...I remember I read in a specific RPG rulebbok where the word hobbit was used (as hobbit, of course   ) that the copyright reference was not to JRR Tolkien but to an ancient poem/ballad of a middleage legend where (supposedly) the hobbits where mentioned... this allowed the authors to use this word without copyright infringement...
I remember that the RPG was a small press product and it had been written in the 90s...

Is there anyone who is able to remind me what game it is?

thanks and ciaooo

Although I do not know the specific literary reference for hobbits, it would not surprise me at all if Tolkien had used an old word for his halflings.

Tolkien freely adapted names and words from Old Norse and Old English.  Many of his place names, character names and the like were not original to Tolkien.  (One good example was Iron Crown Enterprises claiming to own the name Balin because of their Tolkien license...when they most definitely did not own the name unless they also had copyright to The Elder Edda.)

For that matter, Tolkien appears to have also borrowed a number of things from the poetry of  William Blake.  His apologists try to find a way around this idea...that Tolkien and Blake were coming from the same literary tradition...but it seems pretty clear that Tolkien had read Blake's work and adapted quite a few of Blake's names and concepts.

One mild example:  Fiery the Angels rose, and as they rose deep thunder roll'd. Around their shores : indignant burning with the fires of Orc.

There are stronger examples.

(You may also recognize the same line adapted slightly and mis-quoted by the replicant Roy Batty in the movie Bladerunner.)

stratochamp wrote:adapted i would think, but not mis-quoted. the change seems quite intentional to me.

True

So now I have one more title for my wantlist: The Hobbit, 1904. I'll offer one sealed shipping crate of Jade Hare covers for a copy (VF or better).