What is the origin of the name “Munchkin”?
There is no known source of the name. It just appears to be a name Baum made up. But he was the first to use the word, which has now become a part of the English language and appears in several dictionaries. Most dictionaries even cite Baum and The Wizard of Oz as the source of the word. In Russia, the characters are constantly chewing, which is how they got the name Zhevuny, or Munchers, from “munching” all the time. This is an invention of Volkov’s, based on Baum’s word.
