Philtʹer (A)

A draught or charm to incite in another the passion of love. The Thessalian philters were the most renowned, but both the Greeks and Romans used these dangerous potions, which sometimes produced insanity. Lucreʹtius is said to have been driven mad by a love-potion, and Caligʹula’s death is attributed to some philters administered to him by his wife, Cæsoʹnia. Brabantio says to Othello—

“Thou hast practised on her [Desdemona] with foul charms,

Abused her delicate youth with drugs or minerals

That weaken motion.”

Shakespeare: Othello, i. 1.

⁂ (“Philter,” Greek, philtron, philos, loving.)

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.