hippomanes means an ancient love philter obtained from a mare or foal in heat. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 87 out of 100.
Why “hippomanes” is a great word
HIPPOMANES — [Noun] A mythical substance from classical antiquity, purportedly a secretion from a mare in heat or a growth on the forehead of a newborn foal, used as a potent agent in love magic. From Latin hippomanes, from Ancient Greek ἱππομανής (hippomanḗs), from ἵππος (híppos, "horse") + μανία (manía, "madness, frenzy"). Unlike a "philtre" (which names any magical love draught) or an "aphrodisiac" (which denotes a mundane stimulant), hippomanes is a specific, grotesque relic of sympathetic magic, where desire is harvested from the animal body. It is the imagined dark resin on a foal's brow, the trace of froth on a restless mare's flank, the dubious pellet wrapped in cloth by a practitioner in a shadowed market—a testament to the ancient, desperate belief that passion could be physically captured, bottled, and stolen.
Etymology
From Latin hippomanes, from Ancient Greek ἱππομᾰνής (hippomănḗs); see hippo- and the related suffix -mania.
noun
- An ancient love philter obtained from a mare or foal in heat.“Let Circe and Medea bring the lees / Of some foul cup! Let Thessaly prepare / Its direst poison! Bring hippomanes, / Fierce philtre from the frantic, brooding mare!”
- A membrane on the forehead of a foal, used in love potions.“Hippomanes was used in ancient Roman potions as an aphrodisiac.”