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mephitic - n., foul-smelling, noxious, poisonous.
Originally, of, pertaining to, or resembling mephetis, a noxious or pestilential exhalation from the earth. Or so the dictionaries claim, but then turn around and say that mephitic has been used in English a century longer, since the early 17th century. Whichever way, from Late Latin mephīticus, from Late Latin mephītis or mefītis, from Oscan Mefit(eí), the goddess of such exhalations.
---L.
Originally, of, pertaining to, or resembling mephetis, a noxious or pestilential exhalation from the earth. Or so the dictionaries claim, but then turn around and say that mephitic has been used in English a century longer, since the early 17th century. Whichever way, from Late Latin mephīticus, from Late Latin mephītis or mefītis, from Oscan Mefit(eí), the goddess of such exhalations.
---L.
