σικάριος

From the study of Acts 21:38

Range of meaning

Literally 'dagger-man', from Latin sica, a short curved knife. In Latin, sicarius was the everyday legal word for a murderer or assassin. Rome's murder law of 81 BC was the Lex Cornelia de sicariis et veneficis, 'concerning dagger-men and poisoners'. In first-century Judea it also became the name of a particular group of Jewish militants.

Against the English

KJV 'murderers' gives only the generic Latin sense and loses the fact that this is a name. BSB, ESV, NASB and WEB use 'Assassins', often capitalized, which marks it as a group. NIV's 'terrorists' gets the method across but brings in a modern political category.

How it drifted

KJV followed the general sense of the Latin word. Modern readers then lose sight of the group Josephus describes.

Used elsewhere in the period

Josephus, Jewish War 2.254–257, says that under the governor Felix a new kind of bandit appeared in Jerusalem, the sicarii. They killed in broad daylight in the middle of the city, especially at festivals, mixing with the crowds with short daggers hidden under their clothes. Their first victim was the former high priest Jonathan. See also Antiquities 20.163–165 and 20.186. Later the name is attached to the rebels who held Masada (War 7.253ff). This is the only place in the New Testament where the word appears.