英语词汇eunuch的起源、历史背景-英语词源词典

eunuch. A little consciousness-raising for eunuchs! At one time eunuchs were “keepers or guardians of the bed,” hence their name, which derives from the Greek eune, “bed,” and echo, “keep.” Today the term refers to any castrated human male and is used figuratively to describe a man with no cour- age, strength, or backbone, a weak, powerless, spineless person. Strictly speaking, however, all of our uses of eunuch are wrong, for eunuchs were never what most people still think them to be. Eunuchs were not deficient in courage and intellect. From earliest times throughout the world they took charge of harems or were the chamberlains of royal households and their confi- dential position often enabled them to rise to stations of great power. Neither were eunuchs always castrated. And even when they were castrated, in certain cases—if the castration took place after puberty and only the testicles were removed—they were still capable of sexual intercourse, some ladies of ancient Rome preferring them as both natural birth control devices and lovers best at prolonging the sex act. Among famous eu- nuchs in history were the Italian castrati, young boys who were castrated so that they could be trained as adult soprano singers, and the Skopski, a Russian religious sect whose members cas- trated themselves as an act of salvation and numbered over 5,000 before the Russian government prosecuted them in 1874.

词汇	eunuch
词源	eunuch. A little consciousness-raising for eunuchs! At one time eunuchs were “keepers or guardians of the bed,” hence their name, which derives from the Greek eune, “bed,” and echo, “keep.” Today the term refers to any castrated human male and is used figuratively to describe a man with no cour- age, strength, or backbone, a weak, powerless, spineless person. Strictly speaking, however, all of our uses of eunuch are wrong, for eunuchs were never what most people still think them to be. Eunuchs were not deficient in courage and intellect. From earliest times throughout the world they took charge of harems or were the chamberlains of royal households and their confi- dential position often enabled them to rise to stations of great power. Neither were eunuchs always castrated. And even when they were castrated, in certain cases—if the castration took place after puberty and only the testicles were removed—they were still capable of sexual intercourse, some ladies of ancient Rome preferring them as both natural birth control devices and lovers best at prolonging the sex act. Among famous eu- nuchs in history were the Italian castrati, young boys who were castrated so that they could be trained as adult soprano singers, and the Skopski, a Russian religious sect whose members cas- trated themselves as an act of salvation and numbered over 5,000 before the Russian government prosecuted them in 1874.
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