Lathspell

The old English word láðspel means something like ‘evil story’ or ‘ominous news’, and it gets used in the Lord Of The Rings saga. The character Grima Wormtongue calls Gandalf that way, for the wizard only enters the halls of Meduseld in times of grief, despair or war. But that could be basic knowledge for Tolkien-adepts, I guess, so I won’t go deeper into the etymological or literary definition of this word.