What do the words eunuch and castrate mean?

Answer 1

A eunuch is a male who has been castrated, usually during or before adolescence. Castration is the process of removing a male's testicles. Eunuch comes from an ancient word meaning "to guard the bed"; castrated males would guard the bedrooms of rich men's wives, to keep them from having affairs. (This actually sometimes backfired; many of them were still capable of having sex, and could often last longer than normal men, and of course there were no pregnancy scares.) Castration may be done for several different reasons. In the Middle Ages it was sometimes done to boy sopranos, to keep their voices from deepening as they grew up. It could also be done to keep young males from becoming too aggressive as adults. The story of the Ethiopian eunuch in the New Testament is significant, because it showed a break between Jewish tradition of the time and early Christianity. Eunuchs in ancient Israel had limited options when it came to religious services and instruction, but Philip readily explained the Book of Isaiah to the Ethiopian, and baptized him on request. (Fortunately Judaism has also grown and changed, over the centuries.) Marshall Applewhite encouraged castration among the male members of Heaven's Gate, to rid them of sexual impulses and desires; his own surgery was poorly performed, and he struggled with health problems the rest of his life, as a result.