tolkiens legendarium - What did Haldir mean about Elvish knowledge concerning Hobbits?

From the chapter called Lothlorien in the Fellowship of the Ring, we get the following from Haldir (emphasis mine):

‘But we have heard rumours of your coming, for the messengers of Elrond passed by Lórien on their way home up the Dimrill Stair. We had not heard of - hobbits, or halflings, for many a long year, and did not know that any yet dwelt in Middle-earth. You do not look evil! And since you come with an Elf of our kindred, we are willing to befriend you, as Elrond asked; though it is not our custom to lead strangers through our land.'

What does he mean when he says that the Elves did not know that any hobbits yet dwelt in Middle-earth? From what I understand of the history of Hobbits, they first appear in the vales of Anduin, which is not all that far from Lothlorien. Furthermore, I think it highly unlikely that they would have ever found hobbits outside Middle-earth. This line has always perplexed me somewhat, so what did Haldir mean?

Answer

"Yet" means "still" in this instance:

2 (b): continuously up to the present or a specified time : still

_{-(Merriam-Webster)}

Elves of Lórien may have heard of halflings precisely for the reason you state: that the halflings originated not tremendously far from there. However, hobbits have been in the Bree-Shire area for well over a thousand years—hundreds of miles from the nearest major permanent Elvish settlement to the east. And the Elves themselves, though they may have passed through the Shire on their way West, were by that point focused on going over Sea, and would certainly bring back no word of the halflings to the East.
So it might be reasonable for the Elves to believe that the halflings migrated west from Anduin as Sauron expanded his power, and then probably died out in the constant warring that was going on in the northwest during the early-mid Third Age.