(I'm not sure if this is the appropriate place for this posting...), but...

Different cultures have always facinated me. Culture is reflected in language, which (to some extent) helps govern thought, and interactions with others. Therefore, language is of key importance to us (as human beings) when trying to understand the world we see around us.

[Wow, THAT sounded nerdy ]

I have my doubts about one or two of the Sanskrit writings, but most should be fairly accurate.

Enjoy!

So 3BHyx is a secret Russian codeword for "eunuch", huh?

thefraj (imported) wrote: Mon Oct 07, 2002 11:18 am (I'm not sure if this is the appropriate place for this posting...), but...

It would seem as if any postings are OK in the EA, with the obvious exception of anti-circumcision threads. <G> And it is good to see you back to posting. I assume this means your healing process is over? So how is life as a new eunuch? Hopefully you will be one of those (like Sherry) who do NOT develop hot flashes. How is the libido? Muscle strength? Other aspects? A curmudgeonly eunuch is very curious.

Russians have also another word for eunuch - skopets.

That word came from small sect where true believers of god were castrated, to serve the got better without satanic sex temptations.

Erikboy

Of course.

Eunuch in Estonian - kastraat or eunuhh

to castrate - kastreerima

So it seems, like castration concept has come to my language from other cultures. Originally castration was not known here.

Erikboy

Posted by Andrew:

>

Andrew (imported) wrote: Mon Oct 07, 2002 12:35 pm It would seem as if any postings are OK in the EA, with the >obvious exception of anti-circumcision threads. <G>

>

Anti-circumcision threads are verboten?

REALLY????

Then I shall start one and see what happens. I have been castrated and that was ok, but NO WAY is anyone ever gonna take my foreskin! I have precious little to thank my father for, but that is one of them. And similarly my son has thanked me for defending his! In my humble opinion unless you are a Jew or have a medical reason, it is nothing short of butchery to rob a boy or his foreskin!

Andrew (imported) wrote: Mon Oct 07, 2002 12:35 pm I assume this means your healing process is over? So how is life as a new eunuch? Hopefully you will be one of those (like Sherry) who do NOT develop hot flashes. How is the libido? Muscle strength? Other aspects? A curmudgeonly eunuch is very curious.

Thanks Andrew, yes I feel GREAT! I'm not quite over my surgery (still one pesky stitch in there somewhere!) And swelling still hasn't gone down completely, but otherwise (physically) fine!

Although I've been lucky enough to escape any hot flashes (so far!) I have had some minor emotional trouble, but other than that, I'd doing well!

TheFraj has provided a good starting point for our own dictionary of terms related to castration and eunuchs around the world. Inevitably, though, in an attempt to do so much, a few errors have crept into his list.

Before correcting the errors that I have found and adding a few more terms to the list, I'd like to comment on ErikBoy's addition of the Russian term "skopets." The term refers to the Skoptzy, a Christian sect which flourished for over 200 years in Russia and Romania (and may still exist - the evidence is mixed). There are several items about them on the nonfiction board and there have been a few Archive stories based on them as well. The Skoptzy considered themselves to be "the lambs of Christ" and castration was essential to their purity and later entry into Heaven. After all, a good shephard castrates most of his flock....

I cannot comment on the Sanskrit terms, but a contemporary Hindi term for eunuch is "hijra." Again, there are several posts about them on the nonfiction board, though I know of no story that anyone has written about them for the Archive yet. [A good opportunity for one of our authors to be the first!] A Tamil word (one of the southern Indian languages) for the same group is "pottai."

The Chinese terms are correct, but the one listed as Japanese would actually be considered Chinese by a Japanese speaker. I have yet to see it in any Japanese text. The pronunciation given is how a Japanese speaker would pronounce the Chinese characters. The Chinese pronunciation would be "yan ren." The first character is a word for "castrate," the second is the common word for "man." Combining the first character with the character for "temple" would give the Chinese term "yan shi," which refers specifically to a palace eunuch.

The most common Chinese word for “to castrate” would be “jing shen” using the characters for “to cleanse” and “the physical body.”

The Chinese word glossed as "huan guan" is a term that was borrowed by both Japanese and Korean to refer specifically to "eunuch court officials," and is pronounced "kangan" in Japanese and "hwan gwan" in Korean.

The most common verb for "to castrate" in Japanese is "kyosei suru" and in Korean is "kose hada." The first word is the same pair of Chinese characters and consists of the characters for "to remove" and "strength." I have never seen the term used in Chinese itself. "Suru" and "hada" are the verbs for "to do" in Japanese and Korean.

In checking my set of Japanese dictionaries, I also found the term "kyosei sha," which I have never actually seen in any text. The character for "sha" is the formal one for "person." I also found "kyosei kashu," which was glossed as "castrato." "Kashu" is the most common word for "singer" and there was a lengthy explanation of the role of castrati in Italian history to explain the term for Japanese readers.

Castration was almost unknown in Japan and there is no native Japanese word for the process or the result, not even for domestic animals. There are only words borrowed from other languages and places where castration was commonly practiced. In fact, all three Japanese dictionaries I consulted described the process of castration, assuming that native Japanese readers would have no understanding of it.

Castration was much more common in Korea, which provided eunuchs for China as well as for domestic use. My dictionaries give the term "sakje jeong jeong hada" as a native Korean term for "to castrate," though I have never heard it in use.

For "eunuch" in Korean there is "kose dwim," based on the verb "kose hada" and the word "ne si," written with the Chinese characters for "inside" and "guardian" (the same character the Japanese use for "samurai"). There are also native Korean words with no Chinese characters: "yu yak han" and "nam ja."

As far as I can tell, the most commonly used term in both Japanese and Korean is the one borrowed from Chinese "huan guan," though the Korean eunuch I once met referred to himself as a "ne si." He claimed to have been the last one castrated for service in the Korean royal palace, and was elderly when I talked with him nearly 25 years ago. Until the first years of the twentieth century, orphan boys in Korea were frequently castrated to provide them with a livelihood as court officials.

Wow! We're not worthy! That's some serious information, thanks!

I knew that Kyosei suru is a valid Japanese term (I used this in the Japanese translation of my castration story), but felt it too *medical* to include here.

But "Seisentekijyo" is ALSO a valid Japanese term. The Characters: "Sex/Gender/Nature", "Gland","Pinch,Pick,Pluck,Trim" and "exclude,division". And also "Danshu" which is more like our word 'sterilization'.

If I'm not being too cheeky: is there any chance we can see the actual characters that makeup the korean & indian words? I guess it doesn't matter much with native Korean (since it'll be represented with a phonetic alphabet). But Chinese (being a tonal language), means that having the Roman digits that makeup the sounds to that word really doesn't help much. [I'm paticularly facinated by the Hindi and Tamil words too!

I'll be honest here Japanese is the only other language besides English I can actually speak. Feel free make any corrections to any of the entries!

Latest Additions to our dictionary:

I love all of these symbols that you have posted one in particular which I would like incorporated into a tattoo I really liked the one you sent me in flames.