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Originally Posted by Raynor
In the Unfinished Tales, it is noted that:
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Originally Posted by The Istari, UT
The name Incánus is apparently "alien," that is neither Westron, nor Elvish (Sindarin or Quenya), nor explicable by the surviving tongues of Northern Men. A note in the Thain's Book says that it is a form adapted to Quenya of a word in the tongue of the Haradrim meaning simply "North-spy" (Inka + nush).
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Given the etymology of the name and its meaning, I would say it reffers completely to Harad. |
But Tolkien decided later 1967, that Incánus was a Quenya name and the name came from the earlier times of Gondor. It follows this quote:
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Originally Posted by The Istari, UT
On this assumption an etymology is proposed from the Quenya elements in(id) - "mind" and kan- "ruler", expecially in cáno, cánu "ruler, governor, chieftain" (which later constitutes the second element in the names of Turgon and Fingon). In the note my father referred to the latin word incánus 'grey-haired' in such a way as to suggest that this was the actual origin of this name of Gandalf's when The Lord of the Rings was written, which if true would eb very surprising; and at the end of the discussion he remarked that the coincidence in from of the Quenya name and the Latin word must be regarded as 'accident' ...
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It seems, that Tolkien changed his mind about the origin of the name. First it came from the wide South, from Harad, but then after it seems unlikely, that Gandalf travelled so far, it was changed to old Gondor.