If this isn't the coolest word you'll hear all day, I'll eat my hat...
Nepenthe -- a potion used by the ancients to induce forgetfulness of pain or sorrow.
"Nepenthe" and its ancestors have long been popular with poets. Homer used the Greek grandparent of "nepenthe" in a way many believe is a reference to opium. The term was a tonic to Edmund Spenser, who wrote, "In her other hand a cup she hild, The which was this Nepenthe to the brim upfild." Edgar Allan Poe sought to "Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe and forget this lost Lenore." The term is an alteration of the Latin "nepenthes," which is itself descended from the Greek prefix "n -," meaning "not," plus "penthos," meaning "grief" or "sorrow." English writers have been plying the word "nepenthe" since the 16th century.
It's also a pitcher plant, the meat eating kind of plant. Just an all around cool word. Here's one of my favorite nepenthes...
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