What kind of synonymy between lat. eunuchus and lat. spado?

Quelle synonymie pour lat. eunuchus et lat. spado?

Peggy Lecaudé (1, 2)

1 Lille Humanités - Université de Lille - Faculté des Humanités
2 STL - Savoirs, Textes, Langage (STL) - UMR 8163

Lat. eunuchus and lat. spado usually denote a « castrated man ». Both are Greek loanwords which are commonly considered synonymous. But what kind of synonymous are they? First, in terms of etymology, they are not « full » (terminology of J. Lyons) synonyms because εὐν-οῦχος means « attendant of the bedchamber », whereas σπάδων refers strictly to a castrated man. However, considering their derivatives and metaphorical uses, they are defined by the same « inherent semes » (terminology of F. Rastier) : /sterile/ and /castrated/. Second, we study their varied uses in different contexts : both words can denote men who preside over murders in the kingdom, are sexual slaves of their master, childminders or signs of luxuria. Similarly, they both refer to a category of unmanly persons. They are therefore very close to being « total » synonyms, even if Martial and Juvenal seem to make a difference between them. Finally, are they « complete » synonyms? While both of these words are pejorative, spado appears to be more pejorative than eunuchus.

Mots clés: synonymy; gender; loanword; interpretative semantics; eunuch; synonymy

Domaines: Linguistique; Etudes classiques

Peggy Lecaudé. Quelle synonymie pour lat. eunuchus et lat. spado?. 20th International Colloquium on Latin Linguistics, Jun 2019, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Espagne. pp.181-198. ⟨hal-03669341⟩