Lethargus

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An interval characterized by extreme drowsiness or a lack of energy and activity
2. A phase during which someone or something exhibits sluggishness and reduced alertness
3. A state of prolonged physical or mental inactivity often accompanied by sleepiness

Etymology: The Greek word "lēthargos" was built from "lēthē," meaning forgetfulness or oblivion, and "argos," meaning idle or inactive. Together they described a person sunk in forgetfulness and idleness, a sense that carries the image of someone who has slipped out of the world's notice altogether. The Greeks linked "lēthē" with the river of Hades, whose waters made the dead forget their lives, so the word's first pull was toward a kind of deathlike drowsiness. The Greek term passed into Latin as "lethargus," the form that English later borrowed directly. In English the noun kept its core sense of a heavy, unnatural sleepiness or stupor, and it was applied both to the sluggishness of the body and to the dullness of the mind. Over time the word came to describe a general lack of energy or motivation, a state that reads as the mind and body going quiet together.