nepenthe

English

Etymology

A back-formation from nepenthes.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /nɪˈpɛnθi/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /nəˈpɛnθi/
• Hyphenation: ne‧pen‧the

Noun

nepenthe (plural nepenthes)

1. (archaic) Alternative form of nepenthes (“a drug that relieves one of emotional pain, grief or sorrow”). [from 16th c.]
   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Qveene. Disposed into Twelue Books, Fashioning XII. Morall Vertues, part II [books IV–VI], London: Printed [by Richard Field] for VVilliam Ponsonbie, →OCLC, book IV, canto III, stanzas XLII and XLIII, page 49:

     And in her other hand a cup ſhe hild, / The which was with Nepenthe to the brim vpfild. // Nepenthe is a drinck of ſouerayne grace, / Deuized by the Gods, for to aſſwage / Harts grief, and bitter gall away to chace, / VVhich ſtirs vp anguiſh and contentious rage: / In ſtead thereof ſweet peace and quiet age / It doth eſtablish in the troubled mynd.

   • 1845 February, — Quarles [pseudonym; Edgar Allan Poe], “The Raven”, in The American Review‎^[1], volume I, number II, New York, N.Y., London: Wiley & Putnam, […], →OCLC, page 144:

     "Wretch," I cried, "thy God hath lent thee—by these angels he hath sent thee / Respite—respite and Nepenthe, from thy memories of Lenore. Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe and forget this lost Lenore!"