Etymologically
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εὐνοῦχος

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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)

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