I'm trying to find out about a word that I think is spelled
"lehtevtev".  The definition is what intrigues me: "that which lures
you toward it in order to devour you".  My dilemma is that I cannot
find it on-line or in an English dictionary.  I may have gotten it
from a Borges or Nathaniel West story, hence it may be made-up.  I'm
interested in any word with a definition like this one, since I want
to name my shoe business with a word that is unusual and refers to a
dangerous temptation.  Thanks!

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Request for Question Clarification by tutuzdad-ga on 12 Feb 2004 20:43 PST

The closest I can come to accurate meaning and sound, is the word,
"ALLECTIVE" - very close in both pronunciation and definition - which
means "to allure; to bait, trap or ensnare". Does this sound like the
word you are looking for?

http://www.onelook.com/?w=allective&ls=a

Roget's Thesarus lists these as synonyms:

"inducement, consideration; attraction; loadstone; magnet, magnetism,
magnetic force; allectation, allective; temptation, enticement,
agacerie, allurement, witchery; bewitchment, bewitchery; charm; spell;
fascination, blandishment, cajolery; seduction, seducement; honeyed
words, voice of the tempter, song of the Sirens forbidden fruit,
golden apple.

persuasibility, persuasibleness; attractability; impressibility,
susceptibility; softness; persuasiveness, attractiveness;
tantalization."

http://poets.notredame.ac.jp/Roget/615.html

Regards;
tutuzdad-ga

Hi hatcho,

We weren't able to find exactly what you are looking for, but we did
come across an interesting alternative.

The Medieval Bestiary: Scitalis
Latin name: Scitalis
Other names: Scytale
"The scitalis is serpent with such marvelous markings on its back that
its appearance stuns the viewer, slowing the person down so that they
are caught."
http://www.bestiary.ca/beasts/beast271.htm

Regards,
hummer

Two more possibilities, from the "Encyclopedia Mythica".

Drac:
"An invisible female water spirit which tempts women and children by
means of baubles in order to lure them into the water and there devour
them."
http://www.pantheon.org/articles/d/drac.html

Tsonoqwa:
"She is a wild woman wandering the woods in search of children to
devour. She cries "Hu-Hu" while she searches the woods, with a basket
on her back to collect children for future snacks. She also tries to
lure children to her house in the woods by offering sweets, food, and
copper treasures."
http://www.pantheon.org/articles/t/tsonoqwa.html

hummer

Hello hatcho,

Just throwing out a possibility here ... 

'Leh' is a Hebrew word for the preposition "to" ...
'Tev-ila' has to do with immersion ... 
So I'm wondering if this could be a loosely translated Hebrew word for
a 'sea anemone.'

"As part of the preparation for receiving the Torah, HaShem tells
Moshe that the people need to sanctify themselves and wash their
garments (Shemot 19:10). The Rambam explains that this refers to
tevila, immersion in a mikveh. This immersion in which the Jewish
people entered the covenant is the precedent for the immersion in
which each convert enters the covenant of the Torah (Rambam, Isurei
Biah 13:3).

While we often think of a mikveh as a means of purification, (...)
that it is more precisely a means of transformation. After all, the
prospectve convert bears no particular kind of defilement.  The
Tosafot call this an immersion of ?renewal?, and seem to imply that
the immersion of a nida is also of this kind (Tosafot Avoda Zara 75b
?Mayim?).  This understanding of tevila can give us a new insight into
many halakhot."
http://www.ou.org/torah/tt/5761/yitro61/specialfeatures_mitzvot.htm

You might want to consider as alternatives the names of the Greek
sirens, who would lure passing sailors (except Odysseus and Jason) to
their doom with the alluring beauty of their song.  They were named
Aglaope, Leucosia , Parthenope, Pisinoe, and Thelxiepia.

Hello again,

The more we think about your shoe store, the more we like Scitalis (or
Scytale might be better). We looked it up in our book, "The Bestiary",
and found this description. It is not hard to imagine people walking
past your shop and seeing shoes so lovely in the display window, they
stop in their tracks and are lured into the store by their splendour.
 
Alternate spelling: Scytale
"The snake Scitalis gets that name because it is so splendid in the
variegation of its skin that a man stops dead on seeing the beautiful
markings. Owing to the fact that it is a sluggish crawler and has not
the power to overtake people by chasing them, it captures them as they
stand stupefied by its splendour. Moreover, it glows so much that even
in winter time it displays the blazing skin of its body.
"The Bestiary: A Book of Beasts" by T.H. White.
NY: Capricorn Books (©1960); page 176.

Another idea is "Merfolk" (or one of the variations - see the link).

"A mermaid's bewitching voice is said to be able to lure ships onto
rocks and men to their deaths. They are beautiful in their appearance
and are also musically talented, in both their singing and their
playing of musical instruments."
http://www.wellesley.edu/Psychology/Cheek/Narrative/myth.html

hummer

This reminded me of the Odyssey when Nepenthe is mentioned (Greek
related). Nepenthe is of course the genus of plant called Pitcher
Plant, which lures it's prey in to itself and then eats it. I don't
know how helpful this may be, but I thoguht I would add my $00.02.

There was also a irresistable siren in German legend by the name of
"Lorelei" (pronounced: "Lor-uh-li") who sang an enchanting song that
hypnotized and led sailors and their ships toward the dangerous jagged
rocks on the reef and ultimatley to their deaths.

Regrettably, I've not been able to find out anything further on your
word 'lehtevtev.'  If you're open to other stories, concepts, or
interesting words that have to do with temptation, you might try a
couple of these on for size:

shoemaya.com is available.
http://www.mythandculture.com/academic/maya.html

shoepomme.com is available. ('pomme' Fr. for apple)
http://www.scootermydaisyheads.com/fine_art/symbol_dictionary/apple.html

"... there is another tale about Hermes wanting to seduce Aphrodite,
but being unable to achieve his desire. Zeus taking pity on his son,
sent an eagle to steal Aphrodite's slipper. The eagle dropped the
slipper into Hermes' lap. Hermes agreed to return the slipper only if
they became lovers. Hermes honoured the eagle by putting the eagle in
the sky."
http://www.timelessmyths.com/classical/stars.html

aphroditeslipper.com is available.  You could say Aphrodite 'devoured'
a few men in her day. ;-)
http://www.geocities.com/wildmoonmuse/wildheart.html

"Costnunge" (koost-noon-guh) is the Old English word for temptation,'
before it was replaced by the much more preferable French 'temptacion'
in the late 1500's to 1600's."
costnunge.com is available.

Afrikaans
bekoor = attract, draw, entice, tempt, charm
bekoor.com is available.
http://www.wordgumbo.com/ie/ger/afr/erafreng.htm 

Best,
V