eunoukhos) essentially repeats the entry from Orion, but stands by the first option, while attributing the second option to what "some say". The 12th century Etymologicum Magnum (s.v. Theophylact of Ohrid in a dialogue In Defence of Eunuchs also stated that the origin of the word was from eupnoeic and ekhein, "to have, hold", since they were always "well-disposed" toward the master who "held" or owned them. The 11th century Byzantine monk Nikon of the Black Mountain, opting instead for Orion's second alternative, stated that the word came from eunoein ( eu "good" + nous "mind"), thus meaning "to be well-minded, well-inclined, well-disposed or favorable", but unlike Orion he argued that this was due to the trust that certain jealous and suspicious foreign rulers placed in the loyalty of their eunuchized servants. The emperor also goes further than Orion by attributing eunuchs' lack of male-female intercourse specifically to castration, which he said was performed with the intention "that they will no longer do the things that males do, or at least to extinguish whatever has to do with desire for the female sex". However, the first option was cited by the late 9th century Byzantine emperor Leo VI in his New Constitution 98 banning the marriage of eunuchs, in which he noted eunuchs' reputation as trustworthy guardians of the marriage bed ( eunē) and claimed that the very word eunuch attested to this kind of employment. noos, eunoos and ekhein in Liddell and Scott's Greek-English Lexicon, while the first option is not listed as an idiom under eunē in that standard reference work. Orion's second option reflects well-established idioms in Ancient Greek, as shown by entries for transl. The 5th century (CE) Etymologicon by Orion of Thebes offers two alternative origins for the word eunuch: first, to tēn eunēn ekhein, "guarding the bed", a derivation inferred from eunuchs' established role at the time as "bedchamber attendants" in the imperial palace, and second, to eu tou nou ekhein, "being good with respect to the mind", which Orion explains based on their "being deprived of intercourse ( esterēmenou tou misgesthai), the things that the ancients used to call irrational ( anoēta, literally: 'mindless')". The earliest surviving etymology of the word is from late antiquity.
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The acerbic poet describes a particular lover of fine food having "consumed his estate dining lavishly and at leisure every day on tuna and garlic-honey cheese paté like a Lampsacene eunoukhos."
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Because their condition usually lowered their social status, they could also be easily replaced or killed without repercussion.
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They were thus seen as more trustworthy and less interested in establishing a private "dynasty". Similar instances are reflected in the humble origins and etymology of many high offices.Įunuchs supposedly did not generally have loyalties to the military, the aristocracy, or a family of their own (having neither offspring nor in-laws, at the very least). Seemingly lowly domestic functions-such as making the ruler's bed, bathing him, cutting his hair, carrying him in his litter, or even relaying messages-could, in theory, give a eunuch "the ruler's ear" and impart de facto power on the formally humble but trusted servant. Over the millennia since, they have performed a wide variety of functions in many different cultures: courtiers or equivalent domestics, for espionage or clandestine operations, castrato singers, concubines, or sexual partners, religious specialists, soldiers, royal guards, government officials, and guardians of women or harem servants.Įunuchs would usually be servants or slaves who had been castrated to make them less threatening servants of a royal court where physical access to the ruler could wield great influence. The earliest records for intentional castration to produce eunuchs are from the Sumerian city of Lagash in the 2nd millennium BCE.
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Throughout history, castration often served a specific social function. The Harem Ağası, head of the black eunuchs of the Ottoman Imperial Harem.Ī eunuch ( / ˈ juː n ə k/ YOO-nək) is a man who has been castrated.