Lethean
See also: lethean
English
WOTD – 16 January 2012
Etymology
From Latin Lēthē, from Ancient Greek Λήθη (Lḗthē).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /liːˈθi.ən/, /ˈliθi.ən/
Audio (Southern England): (file)
Adjective
Lethean
- (chiefly poetic, Greek mythology) Of or relating to the river Lethe, one of the four rivers of Hades. Those who drank from it experienced complete forgetfulness.
- 1667, Milton, Paradise Lost:
- They ferry over this Lethean sound.
- 1813, Thomas Jefferson Hogg, The Memoirs of Prince Alexy Haimatoff, London: T. Hookham, jun., and E.T. Hookham, page 99:
- The cup which was offered to you when you departed from Elysium was to be the Lethean draught, which would make you forget the joys you had experienced[.]
- 1828, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, volume I, London: William Harrison Ainsworth, page 80:
- Accordingly, she one day took the Lethean crown from off his head: immediately all his old ideas rushed on his mind, and inflamed him with an ardent desire to revisit his country.
Translations
of or relating to river Lethe
References
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“Lethean”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.