eunuch

英文词源

eunuch

eunuch: [15] Eunuch has no etymological connection with ‘castration’. It is simply the fact that in former times male harem attendants in Oriental courts had their testicles removed, to ensure that they were not distracted from their work, that has led ultimately to the equation of eunuch with ‘castrated man’. Literally, the word means ‘bed-guard’; it comes via Latin from Greek eunoukhos, a compound formed from euné ‘bed’ and ékhein ‘have charge of, keep’.

eunuch (n.)

"castrated man," late 14c., from Middle French eunuque and directly from Latin eunuchus, from Greek eunoukhos "castrated man," originally "guard of the bedchamber or harem," from euno-, comb. form of eune "bed," a word of unknown origin, + -okhos, from stem of ekhein "to have, hold" (see scheme (n.)).

Eunuches is he þat is i-gilded, and suche were somtyme i-made wardeynes of ladyes in Egipt. [John of Trevisa, translation of Higdon's Polychronicon, 1387]

Harem attendants in Oriental courts and under the Roman emperors were charged with important affairs of state. The Greek and Latin forms of the word were used in the sense "castrated man" in the Bible but also to translate Hebrew saris, which sometimes meant merely "palace official," in Septuagint and Vulgate, probably without an intended comment on the qualities of bureaucrats. Related: Eunuchal; eunuchry; eunuchize.