lethe

See also: Lethe and Léthé

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈliːθi/

  • Audio (Southern England):

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Etymology 1

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

Noun

lethe (usually uncountable, plural lethes)

1. Forgetfulness of the past; oblivion.
   • c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iv], page 197:

     So in the Lethe of thy angry ſoule,
     Thou drowne the ſad remembrance of thoſe wrongs,
     Which thou ſuppoſest I haue done to thee.

2. Dissimulation.
   • c. 1606–1607, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene vii], page 351:

     Till that the conquering Wine hath ſteep't our ſenſe,
     In ſoft and delicate Lethe.

   • 1980, Joseph J. Kockelmans, On Heidegger and Language, Northwestern University Press, →ISBN, page 241:

     What does it mean to say that the stream of silence originates in lethe? It means, above all, that the stream has its source (Quelle) in that which has not yet been said and which must remain unsaid: the "unsaid."

Derived terms

• lethean

Related terms

• lethargy, lethargic

Etymology 2

Possibly influenced by Latin lētum (“killing”).

Noun

lethe (usually uncountable, plural lethes)

1. (obsolete, rare) Death.
   • 1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i], page 120, line 219:

     Pardon me Iulius, here was't thou bay'd braue Hart,
     Heere did'ſt thou fall, and heere thy Hunters ſtand
     Sign'd in thy Spoyle, and Crimſon'd in thy Lethee.

References

• Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 11th Edition (2003)
• “lethe”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
• “lethe”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• Ethel, Leeth, Theel, ethel

Middle English

Noun

lethe (plural lethes)

1. Alternative form of lyth

Old Irish

Noun

lethe

1. Alternative spelling of leithe

Mutation

Old Irish mutation
Radical	Lenition	Nasalization
lethe also llethe after a proclitic	lethe pronounced with /l(ʲ)-/	unchanged
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.