Lethe

From Latin Lēthē, from Ancient Greek Λήθη (Lḗthē).

• IPA^(key): /ˈliːθi/

Lethe

1. (Greek mythology) The personification of oblivion, daughter of Eris.
2. (Greek mythology) The river which flows through Hades from which the souls of the dead drank so that they would forget their time on Earth.
   • 1782, Lethe, or Aesop in the shades: A dramatic satire, page 223

     come over—“But care, I suppose, is thirsty; and till they have drench’d themselves with Lethe, there will be no quiet among ’em” however, I’ll e’en to work; and so, friend Æsop, and brother Mercury, good bye to ye. [Exit Charon. AEs.]

   • 2015, Peter E. Meltzer, The Thinker's Thesaurus: Sophisticated Alternatives to Common Words (Expanded Third Edition), W. W. Norton & Company →ISBN

     oblivion n.: Lethe. In Greek mythology, Lethe (pronounced LEEthee) is one of the several rivers of Hades. Those who drink from it experience complete forgetfulness. Today it is used to refer to one in an oblivious or forgetful state.

• Acheron, Cocytus, Eridanos, Phlegethon, Styx

• Lethean

• lethargy, lethargic

• Ethel, Leeth, Theel, ethel

Borrowed from Ancient Greek Λήθη (Lḗthē).

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈleː.tʰeː/, [ˈɫeː.tʰeː]

Lēthē f (genitive Lēthēs); first declension (Greek)

1. (Greek mythology) the river Lethe, the river of oblivion

First declension, Greek type, with locative.

• Lēthaeus

• Lethe in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• Lethe in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• Lethe in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Hachette