from the link
The word - commonly found as nepenthe, lacking its final letter - is
otherwise solely poetic or literary. One of its better-known appearances is
in Edgar Allan Poe's poem The Raven: "Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe
and forget this lost Lenore! / Quoth the raven, 'Nevermore.'"

Amazing...I must've read that poem scores of times, and the word never grabbed me until now. I guess I took it to be another potent liquer, like absinthe, and let it go at that. The context of the poem never caused me to delve further into the meaning or etymology...hmmm.