| 释义 |
‖ Lethe|ˈliːθiː|
Also 6 Læthe, 7 Lethee.
[L. Lēthē, a use of Gr. λήθη forgetfulness, f. ληθ-, ablaut-var. of λαθ-, root of λανθάνεσθαι to forget.
In Gr. λήθη is not the name of the river, though it occurs as a personification; the river is λήθης ὕδωρ ‘water of Lethe’.]
1. Gr. Myth. A river in Hades, the water of which produced, in those who drank it, forgetfulness of the past. Hence, the ‘waters of oblivion’ or forgetfulness of the past.
1567Gismond of Salern ii. Chorus (Brandl Quellen 560), The flood of Lethe can not wash out thy fame. 1593Peele Hon. Garter C 3 b, The Carle Obliuion stolne from Læthes lake. 1594Shakes. Rich. III, iv. iv. 250. 1667 Milton P.L. ii. 583 Farr off from these a slow and silent stream, Lethe the River of Oblivion roules Her watrie Labyrinth. 1709Tatler No. 63 ⁋5 Who had long since been drowned in the Whirlpools of Lethe. 1872W. R. Greg Enigmas Life 191 Severances of Soul for which there is neither balm nor lethe. 1883R. W. Dixon Mano i. viii. 20 Thou poppy, that of Lethe art the flower.
¶2. [? Influenced by L. lēt(h)um.] Death. rare—1.
1601Shakes. Jul. C. iii. i. 206 Heere 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.
3. attrib. and Comb., as Lethe-flood, Lethe lake, Lethe wharf; Lethe-wards adv.
1579Spenser Sheph. Cal. Mar. 23 Tho will we little Love awake, That nowe sleepeth in Lethe lake. 1602Shakes. Ham. i. v. 33 And duller should'st thou be then the fat weede That rots it selfe in ease, on Lethe Wharfe. 1613J. Dennys Secr. Angling iii. xxiii, As if that Lethe-floud ran euery where. 1820Keats Ode to Nightingale 4 As though of hemlock I had drunk,..One minute past, and Lethe-wards had sunk. |