Apparently Tolkien’s hobbits were to some degree influenced by E.A. Wyke-Smith’s The Marvelous Land of the Snergs. See Ken’s post at L&P for more info and a plenitude of links.
On Hobbits and Snergs: More Tolkien Lore
Geoffrey is an Aristotelian-Libertarian political philosopher, writer, editor, and web designer. He is the founder of the Libertarian Fiction Authors Association. His academic work has appeared in Libertarian Papers, the Journal of Libertarian Studies, the Journal of Value Inquiry, and Transformers and Philosophy. He lives in Greenville, NC.