A drug used by the ancients to give relief from pain and sorrow; by some supposed to have been opium or hasheesh
(3 syl ) or Nepenthes, a drug to drive away care and superinduce love Polydamna, wife of Thonis (or Thone, 1 syl ), King of Egypt, gave nepenthe to Helen (daughter of Jove and Leda) Homer speaks of a magic potion called nepenthe, which made persons forget their woes (Odyssey, iv 228 ) That nepenthes which the wife of Thone In Egypt gave the Jove-born Helena Milton: Comus, 695, 696 The water of Ardenne had the opposite effect
nepenthe
Silbentrennung
ne·pen·the
Aussprache
Etymologie
[ n&-'pen(t)-thE ] (noun.) 1580. Back-formation from nepenthes.