Nepenthe
{{Short description|Medicine for sorrow}}
{{other uses}}
Nepenthe {{IPAc-en|n|ᵻ|ˈ|p|ɛ|n|θ|i}} ({{langx|grc|νηπενθές}}, {{transl|grc|nēpenthés}}) is a possibly fictional medicine for sorrow – a "drug of forgetfulness" mentioned in ancient Greek literature and Greek mythology, depicted as originating in Egypt.{{LSJ|nhpenqh/s|νηπενθές|ref}}.
The carnivorous plant genus Nepenthes is named after the drug nepenthe.
In the ''Odyssey''
The word {{lang|grc-Latn|nepenthe}} first appears in the fourth book of Homer's Odyssey:
{{Verse translation |lang=grc |italicsoff=yes
|ἔνθ᾽ αὖτ᾽ ἄλλ᾽ ἐνόησ᾽ Ἑλένη Διὸς ἐκγεγαυῖα:
αὐτίκ᾽ ἄρ᾽ εἰς οἶνον βάλε φάρμακον, ἔνθεν ἔπινον,
νηπενθές τ᾽ ἄχολόν τε, κακῶν ἐπίληθον ἁπάντων.
|Then Helen, daughter of Zeus, took other counsel.
Straightway she cast into the wine of which they were drinking a drug
to quiet all pain and strife, and bring forgetfulness of every ill.
|attr1=Odyssey, Book 4, v. 219–221{{cite book |title=Odyssey |last1=Homer |author1-link=Homer |translator-first=A.T. |translator-last=Murray |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hom.+Od.+4.219&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0136 |chapter=4.219-221 |year=1919 }}; from {{cite book |title=Odyssey |last1=Homer |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hom.+Od.+4.219&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0135 |language=Greek |via=Perseus Project}}
}}
Analysis
Figuratively, nepenthe means "that which chases away sorrow". Literally it means 'not-sorrow' or 'anti-sorrow': {{lang|grc|νη-}}, {{transl|grc|nē-}}, i.e. "not" (privative prefix),{{LSJ|nh1|νη-|ref}} and {{lang|grc|πενθές}}, from {{lang|grc|πένθος}}, {{transl|grc|pénthos}}, i.e. "grief, sorrow, or mourning".{{LSJ|pe/nqos|πένθος|ref}}.
In the Odyssey, νηπενθές φάρμακον : {{transl|grc|nēpenthés phármakon}} (i.e. an anti-sorrow drug) is a magical potion given to Helen by Polydamna, the wife of the noble Egyptian Thon; it quells all sorrows with forgetfulness.