I
1. castrated person, eunuch, employed to take charge of the women and act as chamberlain (whence the name,
2. of animals, Philostr. Her. 1.3, Sch.Par. A.R. 1.585.
3. of dates, without stones, Arist. Fr. 267: - Pythag. name for
II as Adj., watching the bed, sleepless,
pr. one who has charge of the bedchamber; hence, a eunuch, one emasculated, Mat 19:12;
as eunuchs in the East often rose to places of power and trust, hence, a minister of a court, Act 8:27; Act 8:34; Act 8:36; Act 8:38 f.
G2135 —
a. an emasculated man, a eunuch: Mat 19:12b. But eunuchs in oriental courts held other offices of greater or less importance, like the oversight of the treasury, held by the Ethiopian eunuch mentioned in Act 8:27, Act 8:34, Act 8:36, Act 8:38f; cf. Gesenius, Thesaurus, ii., p. 973; (B. D. under the word
b. one naturally incapacitated — either for marriage, Mat 19:12a; or for begetting children, Wis. 3:14, cf. Grimm, exgt. Hdb. at the passage c. one who voluntarily abstains from marriage: Mat 19:12c. Fischer, De vitiis lexamples N. T. etc., p. 485ff treats of the word more fully.
εὐνοῦχος , - ου , ὁ
( i.e . ὁ τὴν εὐνὴν (bed) ἔχων ),
[in LXX for H5631 (perhaps not of necessity an actual eunuch; DB, s.v. ), Gen 39:1, al. , Wis 3:14 , Sir 20:4 ; Sir 30:20 ;]
an emasculated man, a eunuch: Mat 19:12; one such holding, as was common, high office, as of chamberlain, at court, Act 8:27; Act 8:34-39; metaph ., of one naturally incapacitated for or volun-tarily abstaining from wedlock, Mat 19:12. †