εὐνοῦχος

Pronunciation

• IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /eu̯.nûː.kʰos/^[1]
• IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /eˈβnu.xos/^[1]
• IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /eˈvnu.xos/^[1]

Forms

εὐνοῦχος (eunoûkhos) m (genitive εὐνούχου); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is a compound of εὐνή (eunḗ, “bed”) and the root of ἔχω (ékhō, “to have, keep”): “keeper of the bed”, the attendant of the royal bedchamber and the women's quarters.^[2][3][1][4] A Semitic origin from a Hebrew word for “retainer” was proposed and is rejected by Rosół.^[5]

Ancient etymologists offered other explanations too: Orion derived it also from “having a sound mind”, ⟨εὖ⟩ ⟨νοῦν ἔχειν⟩, and a Byzantine etymological dictionary from εἷς (heîs, “one”), “the one who is alone”.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Hipponax is the first to use it, followed by Herodotus.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

Eunuchs were castrated men employed, especially in the East, to take charge of the women and serve as chamberlains, and some rose to high positions.^[2][6] Aristophanes and Xenophon mention them.^[2][3][6] The word was also used of castrated animals, of dates without stones, and as a Pythagorean name for lettuce; a fragment of Sophocles has it as an adjective, “sleepless”, of lamps.^[2]

In the Septuagint it can mean simply a court official or chamberlain, as in Genesis.^[7] The Gospel of Matthew uses it for a man born impotent and for one who abstains from sexual relations.^[3][6] Hesychius glosses it as σπάδων, “castrated”.^[8] Latin borrowed it as eunūchus.^[1] Modern Greek ευνούχος (evnoúchos) is a eunuch, and figuratively a man who has lost his vigour.^[9]

Timeline

• 6th century BC – Hipponax uses it.^[3]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus mentions eunuchs.^[2][3]
• 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes and Xenophon mention eunuchs.^[2]
• 3rd–1st century BC – The Septuagint uses it for a court official.^[7]
• 1st century AD – The Gospel of Matthew uses it for men who abstain from marriage.^[6][3]
• 5th century AD – Orion derives it from “keeping the bed”.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A eunuch, a castrated man employed as chamberlain or guard of the women.^[2][3]
2. (Septuagint) A court official, chamberlain.^[7]
3. (New Testament) A man born impotent; one who abstains from marriage.^[3]
4. A castrated animal.^[2][1]
5. A date without a stone.^[2][1]

Adjective

1. Watching the bed, sleepless.^[2]

Word family

• εὐνουχίζω (eunoukhízō)
• εὐνουχοειδής (eunoukhoeidḗs)

Related words

• εὐνή (eunḗ)
• ἔχω (ékhō)
• Latin eunuchus
• English eunuch

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
4. ^ a b c Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram
5. ^ Rosół, Rafał (2013), Frühe semitische Lehnwörter im Griechischen, Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang
6. ^ a b c d Bauer, Walter; Danker, Frederick W., et al. (2000), A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed., Chicago: University of Chicago Press
7. ^ a b c Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
8. ^ Hesychius of Alexandria, Lexicon, ed. Kurt Latte (Α–Ο, Copenhagen 1953–1966) and Moritz Schmidt (Π–Ω, Jena 1858–1868)
9. ^ Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki