dwale

noun·/dweɪl/

Deadly nightshade, or a soporific potion once associated with it. By extension, a stupefying sleep or torpor. The drowsiness here carries danger, a drifting that may not return.

The old ballad warned of dwale in the cup: sweetness first, then a silence too deep to wake from.

Etymology

From Middle English dwale, a northern word tied to older Germanic forms for stupor and delirium. It moved easily between plant and potion, because in folklore the boundary between herb and spell was always thin.

Related Words

belladonnathe plant most often meant by “deadly nightshade”
soporificsleep-inducing; clinical counterpart
nardanother historically narcotic aromatic, though less lethal
lethemythic forgetfulness; a poetic cousin