Why “nepenthean” is a great word
Inducing a state of pleasurable forgetfulness, especially of sorrow or trouble. From the noun nepenthe (from Latin nēpenthes, borrowed from Greek nēpenthés, meaning “free from grief”) with the English adjectival suffix -an. Unlike “anodyne,” which soothes but leaves memory intact, or “soporific,” which merely dulls the senses into sleep, “nepenthean” describes a rapturous, specific escape. It is the golden haze of a late afternoon drink that dissolves the day’s sharp edges, the enveloping swell of a symphony that drowns out all private thought, the warm, amber scent of old books that carries the mind far from its own cares—a temporary, merciful unbecoming of the self.