Dwarf (pronounced dwawrf)
(1) A
person of abnormally small stature owing to a pathological condition,
especially one suffering from cretinism or some other disease that produces
disproportion or deformation of features and limbs. In human pathology, dwarfism is usually
defined, inter-alia, as an adult height less than 1.47 m (4 ft 10 in).
(2) In
zoology & botany, an animal or plant much smaller than the average of its
kind or species.
(3) In European
folklore, a being in the form of a small, often misshapen and ugly, man,
usually having magic powers.
(4) In
Norse mythology, any member of a race of beings from (especially Scandinavian
and other Germanic) folklore, usually depicted as having some sort of
supernatural powers and being skilled in crafting and metalworking, often as
short with long beards, and sometimes as clashing with elves.
(5) In
astronomy, a small version of a celestial body (planet, moon, galaxy, star etc).
(6) Of unusually
small stature or size; diminutive; to become stunted or smaller.
Pre 900:
From the Middle English dwerf, dwergh,
dwerw & dwerȝ, from
the Old English dweorh & dweorg (dwarf),
replacing the Middle English dwerg and
ultimately from the Proto-Germanic dwergaz. It was
cognate with the Scots dwerch,
the Old High German twerg & twerc (German Zwerg), the Old Norse dvergr
(Swedish dvärg), the Old Frisian dwirg (West Frisian dwerch), the Middle
Low German dwerch, dwarch & twerg (German & Low German Dwarg & Dwarch) and the Middle Dutch dwerch
& dworch (Dutch dwerg).
The Modern English noun has undergone complex phonetic changes. The form
dwarf is the regular continuation of Old English dweorg, but the plural dweorgas
gave rise to dwarrows and the oblique
stem dweorge which led to dwery, forms sometimes found as the
nominative singular in Middle English texts and in English dialects. Dwarf is a noun and verb, dwarfness & dwarfishness
are nouns, dwarfish & dwarflike are adjectives and dwarfishly is an adverb. The plural forms are dwarves and dwarfs. Dwarfs was long the common plural in English
but after JRR Tolkien (1892-1973) used dwarves, his influence was enough to
become the standard plural form for mythological beings. For purposes non-mythological, dwarfs remains
the preferred form.
The M
Word
Dwarf seems still to be an acceptable term to describe those with dwarfism
and Little People of America (LPA), the world’s oldest and largest dwarfism
support organization (which maintains an international, membership-based
organization for people with dwarfism and their families) has long campaigned
to abolish the use of the word “midget” in the context of short humans. The objection to midget is associative. It was never part of the language of medicine
and it was never adopted as official term to identify people with dwarfism, but
was used to label used those of short stature who were on public display for
curiosity and sport, most notoriously in the so-called “freak shows”. Calling people “midgets” is thus regarded as derogatory. Midget remains an apparently acceptable word to
use in a historic context (midget submarine, MG Midget etc) or to describe machinery
(midget car racing; the Midget Mustang aerobatic sports airplane) but no new adoptions
have been registered in recent years. The
LPA is also reporting some supportive gestures, noting with approval the
decision of the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) of the US Department of
Agriculture’s (USDA) to revise the nomenclature used in the US standards for grades
of processed raisins by removing five references to the term “midget”. Although obviously a historically benign use
of the word, its removal was a welcome display of cultural sensitivity.
An interesting outlier however is midget wrestling, a field in which the participants are said enthusiastically to support the label, citing its long traditions and the marketing value of the brand. Although in the late twentieth century, midget wrestling’s popularity diminished in the last decade there’s be a resurgence of interest and the sport is now a noted content provider for the streaming platforms which run live and recorded footage. Since the 1970s, midget wrestling has included styles other than the purely technical form with routines extending from choreographed parody and slapstick performances to simulated sexual assault. These innovations have attracted criticism and the suggesting it’s a return to the freak shows of earlier centuries but audiences in the target demographic seem appreciative and, noting the success of a number of tours and operators, Major League Wrestling in 2022 announced the creation of a midget division.
The MG Midget
Where it began: 1930 MG M-Type Midget Roadster.
The earliest cars to wear MG badge (the name originally “Morris Garages”, an operation which had the same relationship to Morris as AMG does to Mercedes-Benz (ie high-performance variants)) were tuned (and often re-bodied) editions of existing Morris models but in 1928 the 8/33 M.G Midget Sports Series M (truncated usually to “M Type” was displayed at the 1928 London Olympia Motor, series production commencing the next season. The first of a long line of tiny roadsters, 3,232 would be made between 1929-1932 and the one in the photographs above is fitted with coachwork typical of the era: an open two-seater in the fashionable “boat-tail” style, constructed by Carbodies of Coventry using construction technique which began in aviation, the panels a mix of steel and fabric-covered plywood over an ash frame. The fabric soft-top was stored under the rear deck along its frame, tools and a spare wheel. In the spirit of the age, a rakish two-piece windshield was fitted and there was no provision for a heater. Despite the minimalist accommodation, the engine was surprisingly advanced, the four-cylinder engine using a bevel-gear-driven single overhead cam turning off the vertically mounted generator, 27 horsepower at a then impressive 5400 rpm generated from a displacement of 847 cm3 (51.68 cubic inches). A footnote in the Midget’s history is that the first exported to the US was in 1930 bought by Edsel Ford (1893–1943; president of the Ford Motor Company (FoMoCo) 1919–1943), then titular head of his father’s (Henry Ford (1863-1947)) eponymous Motor company which, by the million, built larger vehicles.
1960 Austin-Healey Sprite Mark I (top left), 1966 MG Midget Mark II (top right), 1973 MG Midget Mark III (RWA, bottom left) and 1979 MG Midget Mark IV (bottom right).
For a new generation (1961-1979) of diminutive roadsters, MG revived the Midget name last used on the M-Type. MG was by the 1950s part of British Motor Corporation (BMC (1952-1967) which later would be absorbed by the doomed British Leyland (1968–1990)) and a corporate companion marquee was Austin-Healey which between 1958-1961 produced the Sprite (known variously as the “bugeye” or “frogeye”), a small sports car, built on the familiar template of economy car underpinnings with a stylish body. After the release of the MGA (1955-1962), MG no longer had a competitor in the low-price segment so BMC took the decision that the two companies would share the model, yet another example of the “badge engineering” which BMC pragmatically (and for a while lucratively) would exploit until the process descended into self-defeating absurdity. When the Mark II Sprites were released in 1961 (without the distinctive headlights which were the source of the nicknames), simultaneously there was the debut of the Midget, the latter slightly more expensive and better equipped, although both remained basic roadsters in the old tradition, lacking fittings such as side windows and external door-handles. The Sprite would continue in three versions (Mark II; 1961-1964, Mark III; 1964-1966, Mark IV 1966-1971) before, following the end of BMC’s contractual arrangement with Donald Healey (1898–1988), briefly it was sold as the Austin Sprite (1971-1972) before the name was retired and the segment was left to MG. In the decade they’d been companion models, the pair significantly had been improved, gaining power, refinement and creature comforts (the overdue door handles and side windows part of the Mark II upgrades) but what never changed were the dimensions, the things always small, something the balanced styling tended to disguise, the compactness best appreciated when one was seen parked next to a more typically sized vehicle; the Sprite and Midget being dwarfed.
Almost 130,000 Sprites were built while Midget production (which lasted until 1980) totalled some 225,000, the most numerous being the later models (Mk III; 1966–1974: 100,246 units & 1500; 1974–1979: 81,916 units). A decade before production ended it was already outdated but such was the charm (and lack of competition) that demand remained strong almost to the end. The most fancied Midgets are the so-called RWA (round wheel arch) models produced between 1972-1974; these adopted the design used on the rear of the bugeyes and are considered the best looking (as well as making the use of wider rear tyres easier) but in 1974 MG had to revert to the squared-off look because the strength gain from the additional metal was necessary to support the large “rubber” bumpers added to conform with US regulations; the RWA bodywork was found to be prone to damage when the rear-impact tests were conducted. Even before the huge bumpers unhappily had been grafted, US market cars had for some months had large rubber “buffers” bolted to the chrome bumpers, known in the US as “Dagmars” and in the UK as “Sabrinas” both names tributes to the hardly vague anatomical similarity with the two pop culture figures. Along with the big bumpers, to comply with minimum headlight height regulations in the US, the suspension height was raised by about an inch (25 mm), something which raised the centre of gravity and thus affected the handling characteristics, something adjustments to the anti-roll bars only partially ameliorated. Visually, the increased height was disguised by lowering curve of the front wheel arch.
Triumph Spitfire, also a midget-sized roadster
A midget (with a small “m”) dwarfed by two behemoths: A 1977 Triumph Spitfire between two Ford Super Duty F-450s heavy pick-up trucks. At their intended purpose (carrying or towing heavy payloads) Ford’s Super Duty heavy pick-up trucks perform well but such is the consumer appeal they’re a not uncommon sight used as passenger vehicles, even in cities; they can thus be both a personal and political statement, owners delighted Ford has made pick-ups great again (MPUGA).
Adopted for the range in 1999, Ford between 1958-1981 had previously used the “Super Duty” label on three large displacement (401, 477 & 534 cubic inch (6.6, 7.8 & 8.8 litre) gas (petrol) V8s, the family one of a remarkable variety of different V8s the corporation produced during the 1950s & 1960s. Big, heavy and low-revving, the Super Duty V8 were legendarily robust and famed for their longevity but were doomed ultimately by their prodigious thirst. They were intended only for heavy-duty, industrial use and in that very different from the Pontiac Super Duty (SD) V8s which were high-performance units, the early versions in the 1960s optimized for drag racing while the revival the next decade was the final fling of the original muscle car era (1964-1974). The 389 & 421 cubic inch (6.4 & 6.9 litre) versions were offered between 1960-1963 while the 455 (7.5) appeared in 1973-1974 and had it not been for the 455 SD Pontiac Firebirds in those years, the muscle car era would have been regarded as having ended in 1972. The Watergate-era 455 SD is also a footnote in the history of environmental law because Pontiac (in a preview of Volkswagen’s later “Dieselgate”) used a device to “cheat” on emission testing being undertaken as part of the certification process. Caught re-handed, Pontiac, guilty as sin, was compelled to remove the “cheat gear” and re-submit a vehicle for testing; that’s the reason the 1973-1974 455 SD was rated at 290 horsepower (HP) rather than the 310 of the original (and more toxic) engine.
1967 Triumph Spitfire Mark II (left) and 1972 Triumph Spitfire Mark IV (with after-market exhaust tips, right).
The Triumph Spitfire had the same relationship to the larger TR sports cars (1952-1976) as the Midget did to the MGB. Produced in five distinct generations between 1962-1980, like the Sprite & Midget, the Spitfire featured a stylish body atop the platform of a high-volume model and for the coachwork Triumph out-sourced the job to Italy, Giovanni Michelotti (1921–1980) producing a shape which owed nothing to the little Herald (1959-1971) on which it was based. In continuous production in five versions (Mark I; 1962–1964, Mark II; 1965–1967, Mark III; 1967–1970, Mark IV; 1970–1974 & 1500; 1974–1980), almost 315,000 were built with the later models the most popular, the some 96,000 of the 1500s sold. Like the Midget, the Spitfire was over the years improved although the things did at least stagnate in the post-1974 US models which became heavier, slower and uglier although in the 1970s that was a general industry trend. The Although soon under the same corporate umbrella, the Midget & Spitfire were competitors (in the showroom and on the circuits) for almost two decades and when Road & Track magazine in their September 1967 edition published a comparison test, they couldn't decide which was best, concluding: "...whichever one the buyer chooses, he is assured of many miles of motoring pleasure in the great sports car tradition. They're good cars, both of them. You can't go wrong." For the readers that may not have been a great deal of help and the phrasing must have been force of habit because the two little roadsters had always enjoyed some popularity among women.
The photograph run in 1959 with the caption “Hark the Herald’s axle’s swing” (left) and a Mark I Spitfire's swing axles displaying the same behavior.
The Spitfires of the 1960s were a bit more lively but that description wasn’t always a compliment because, based on the Herald, what was inherited was the swing-axle rear suspension and swing the axles certainly could, leading to a “lively rear”. When the British motoring press first tested the Herald they noted the behaviour of the swing axles under extreme load and had a photographer appropriately positioned: The caption “Hark the Herald’s axle’s swing” became famous. None of that deterred Triumph which in 1962 introduced a more powerful version powered by a 1.6 litre (97 cubic inch) straight six. That meant a faster car which meant the behaviour of the swing axles could be experienced at a higher speed (with all that implies) but the car sold well which was encouraging so Triumph in 1966 fitted a 2.0 litre (122 cubic inch) six. It was not until 1968 the rear suspension was revised and this curative solved the errant characteristics to a degree which impressed even the usually sceptical motoring journalists and sales remained strong until production ended in 1971. Offered only in four-cylinder form, the revisions to the Spitfire’s rear suspension were less complex but when tested on the Mark IV in 1970, the improvement was apparent and from this point, criticism ceased of of road-holding at the limit.
1967 Triumph GT6 Mark I (also with after-market exhaust tips, left) and 1979 Triumph Spitfire 1500 (right). With production ending in 1973, the GT6 was spared from being disfigured by the battering-ram like bumpers imposed on the Spitfire, those on the last of the line (1979-1980) the biggest.
While the roadster never gained six-cylinder power, Triumph from 1966 offered a coupé version (with a convenient hatchback, al la the Jaguar E-Type (XKE, 1961-1974) called the GT6. Mechanically it followed the Vitesse except it was only ever fitted with the 2.0 litre engine and didn’t receive the suspension fix until the Mark II in 1969 and that transformed things although, being relatively complex it must have been deemed too expensive to justify on what proved a low-volume model and the with the release of the Mark III in 1970, a version of that used on the Spitfire was substituted and it proved just as effective. Sales of the GT6 never matched the company’s expectation and the market preferred the MGB GT (1965-1980) which used the same concept for the body. Noting the costs which would have been incurred to make the GT6 compliant with the US regulations to take effect from 1974, production ended in late 1973. Because the considerably more powerful (especially the fuel-injected versions sold outside the US) 2.5 litre six Triumph used in the TR5 (which, with twin carburetors, was in North America sold as the TR-250), TR6, 2.5 PI & 2500 is a relatively easy swap, quite a few GT6s have been so upgraded although some attention does need to be paid to the chassis to achieve a completely satisfactory road car.
The short stature of Victor Emmanuel III (1869–1947; King of Italy 1900-1946) with (left to right), with Aimone of Savoy, King of Croatia (Rome, 1943), with Albert I, King of the Belgians (France, 1915), with his wife, Princess Elena of Montenegro (Rome 1937) & with Adolf Hitler (1889-1945; Führer (leader) and German head of government 1933-1945 & head of state 1934-1945), observing the Italian navy conduct manoeuvres, Gulf of Naples, 1938. Note the King of Italy's sometimes DPRKesque hats.
Technically, Victor Emmanuel didn’t fit the definition of dwarfism which sets a threshold of adult height at 4 feet 10 inches (1.47 m), the king about 2 inches (50 mm) taller (or less short) and it’s thought the inbreeding not uncommon among European royalty might have been a factor, both his parents and grandparents being first cousins. However, although not technically a dwarf, that didn’t stop his detractors in Italy’s fascist government calling him (behind his back) il nano (the dwarf), a habit soon picked up the Nazis as der Zwerg (the dwarf) (although Hermann Göring (1893–1946; leading Nazi 1922-1945, Hitler's designated successor & Reichsmarschall 1940-1945) was said to have preferred der Pygmäe (the pygmy)). In court circles he was knows also (apparently affectionately) as la piccola sciabola (the little sabre) a nickname actually literal in origin because the royal swordsmith had to forge a ceremonial sabre with an unusually short blade for the diminutive sovereign to wear with his many military uniforms. His French-speaking wife (Princess Elena of Montenegro (1873–1952; Queen of Italy 1900-1946)) stood a statuesque six feet (1.8 m) tall and always called him mon petit roi (my little king). It was a long and happy marriage and genetically helpful too, his son and successor (who enjoyed only a brief reign) very much taller although his was to be a tortured existence. Still, in his unhappiness the scion stood tall and that would have been appreciated by the late Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (1921–2021) who initially approved of the marriage of Lady Diana Spencer (1960-1997) to the Prince of Wales (b 1948) on the basis that she “would breed some height into the line”.
In cosmology, the word dwarf is applied to especially small versions of celestial bodies. A dwarf galaxy is a small galaxy of between several hundred and several billion stars, (the Milky Way may have as many as billion) and astronomers have identified many sub-types of dwarf galaxies, based on shape and composition. A dwarf planet is a small, planetary-mass object is in direct orbit of a star, smaller than any of the eight classical planets but still a world in its own right. Best-known dwarf planet is now Pluto which used to be a planet proper but was in 2006 unfortunately down-graded by the humorless types at the International Astronomical Union (IAU) who are in charge of such things. It’s hoped one day this decision will be reversed so Pluto will again be classified a planet. Dwarf planets are of interest to planetary geologists because despite their size, they may be geologically active bodies. The term dwarf star was coined when it was realized the reddest stars could be classified as brighter or dimmer than our sun and they were created the categories “giant star” (brighter) and dwarf star (dimmer). As observational astronomy improved, the
With
the development of infrared astronomy there were refinements to the model to
include (1) the dwarf star (the “generic” main-sequence star), (2) the red
dwarf (low-mass main-sequence star), (3) the yellow dwarfs are (main-sequence stars
with masses comparable to that of the Sun, (4) the orange dwarf (between a red
dwarf and yellow/white stars), (5) the controversial blue dwarf which is a hypothesized
class of very-low-mass stars that increase in temperature as they near the end
of their main-sequence lifetime, (6) the white dwarf which is the remains of a
dead star, composed of electron-degenerate matter and thought to be the final
stage in the evolution of stars not massive enough to collapse into a neutron
star or black hole, (7) the black dwarf which is theorized as a white dwarf
that has cooled to the point it no longer emits visible light (it’s thought the
universe is not old enough for any white dwarf to have yet cooled to black
& (8) the brown dwarf, a sub-stellar object not massive enough to ever fuse
hydrogen into helium, but still massive enough to fuse deuterium.
Coolest
dwarf of all is (9) the ultra-cool dwarf (first defined in 1997), somewhat
deceptively named for non cosmologists given the effective temperature can be
as high as 2,700 K (2,430°C; 4,400°F); in space, everything is relative. Because of their slow hydrogen fusion
compared to other types of low-mass stars, their life spans are estimated at
several hundred billion years, with the smallest lasting for about 12 trillion
years. As the age of the universe is thought
to be only 13.8 billion years, all ultra-cool dwarf stars are relatively young
and models predict that at the ends of their lives the smallest of these stars
will become blue dwarfs instead of expanding into red giants.
Disney's seven dwarfs; they're now cancelled.
The events towards the conclusion of the nineteenth century German fairy tale Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs make ideal reading for young children. Her evil step-mother has apparently killed poor Snow White so the seven disappointed dwarfs lay her body in a glass coffin. The very next, a handsome prince happens upon the dwarfs’ house in the forest and is so captivated by her beauty he asks to take her body back to his castle. To this the dwarfs agree but while on the journey, a slight jolt makes Snow White come to life and the prince, hopelessly in love, proposes and Snow White accepts. Back at the palace, the prince invites to the wedding all in the land except Snow White's evil stepmother.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, even Happy looking sad.
The
step-mother however crashes the wedding and discovers the beautiful Snow White
is the bride. Enraged, she again attempts murder but the prince protects her and, learning the truth from his
bride, forces the step-mother to wear a pair of red-hot iron slippers and dance in
them until she dies; that takes not
long and once she has the decency to drop dead, the nuptials resume. In the way things happen in fairy tales, the prince and Snow White live happily ever
after.
DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion)
The condition achondroplasiaphobia describes those with a “fear of little people". The construct is achondroplasia (the Latin a- (not) + the Ancient Greek chondro- (cartilage) + the New Latin -plasia (growth); the genetic disorder that causes dwarfism) + phobia (from the New Latin, from the Classical Latin, from the Ancient Greek -φοβία (-phobía) from φόβος (phóbos) (fear). The condition, at least to the extent of being clinically significant, is thought rare and like many of the especially irrational phobias is induced either by (1) a traumatic experience, (2) depictions in popular culture or (3) reasons unknown. Achondroplasiaphobia has never appeared in the American Psychiatric Association’s (APA) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). In 2006, it was reported that while dining at the Chateau Marmont hotel in Los Angeles, after noticing two people of short stature had entered the restaurant, Lindsay Lohan suffered an "anxiety attack" and hyperventilated to the extent she had to take "an anti-anxiety pill" to calm down. To her companions she repeatedly said "I’m so scared of them!" A spokesperson for the LPA responded by suggesting Ms Lohan should "...treat her fear the same as she would a fear of any other protected minority population. If that fails, she might find diversity training to be useful." Almost immediately the story appeared, it was debunked by a representative for Ms Lohan who issued a statement saying she is not achondroplasiaphobic and not in any way scared of little people, adding "Lindsay loves all people."
Among critics and industry analysts, the consensus seem to be that in late 1919 when the project was approved, for Disney to allocate a budget of US$200 million (it ended up being booked at around US$250 million) to a remake of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) probably was a good idea. Based on the German fairy tale Sneewittchen which first appeared in print early in the nineteenth century, Disney’s 1937 production was the first animated, full-length feature film made in the US and it was both critically acclaimed and a great commercial success, becoming the highest-grossing film of 1938; adjusted for inflation, it’s success then and since has made it one of the most profitable films ever made.
The elements in its success were (1) the quality of the studio’s work, (2) advances in the technology delivering sight and sound which made the audience's experience so vivid and (3) the threads of the story which are fairy tale classics: A wicked queen, jealous of her stepdaughter’s beauty orders her murder, only to discover she’s hiding out in a cottage with seven dwarves so she poisons her with an adulterated apple, inducing a deep sleep from which she eventually is awoken by the kiss of a handsome prince. In 1937, had the word “problematic” then been in use, it wouldn't have been applied to anything in the plot but by the early 2020s, things had changed. In the pre Trump 2.0 era, when DEI (diversity, equity & inclusion) was compulsory, having Snow White gaining her name because her skin was as “white as snow” and the very existence of dwarfs were both definitely “problematic” so the challenge was to keep the “Snow White” in the title while changing troublesome content as required. That's been done before and had the 2024 US presidential election elected someone (probably anyone) else, Snow White could have appeared in cinemas to lukewarm reviews but a solid box office based on 7-11 year old girls still impressed at Meghan Markle (Meghan, Duchess of Sussex; b 1981) having proved its not only in fairy tales that princes rescue middle-class girls from dreary lives. Only Fox News would much have bothered with a condemnation.
So for Disney, the timing of events was unfortunate but the earlier race and cultural controversies which swirled around the earlier remakes of Mulan (2020) and The Little Mermaid (2023) should have been a warning. Most jarring perhaps was the absence of “dwarfs” (in the historic sense of the word). While Snow White is of course the protagonist, in casting terms there was only one of her and seven of them so the substitution of the heptad with “magical creatures” was always going to attract a critique of its own. According to the studio, it consulted members of the dwarfism community (the so-called “little people”) “to avoid reinforcing stereotypes” before the re-casting but, given the production was, according to many, replete with cultural, sexist and chauvinist tropes, the cancelled dwarfs received less attention than might have been expected. With reviewers using phrases like “exhaustingly awful reboot” and “tiresome pseudo-progressive additions”, expectations of success for Snow White have been lowered.
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