Greek word · G4676

σουδάριον

soudarion

handkerchief

From Latin sudarium, 'sweat-cloth'. A cloth for wiping the face, a handkerchief or napkin. People also used it to wrap money (Luke 19:20) or tie around the head or neck. Over a corpse it covered or bound the face or head.

Appears 4 times in 4 verses of the Greek New Testament. ·

What it means

σουδάριον, -ου, τό(Lat.),

handkerchief, kerchief: Luke 19:20, Acts 19:12; used as a head covering for the dead, John 11:44 20:7 (cf. Deiss., BS, 223).†

(AS)

From G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament (1922), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of John 11:44

Range of meaning

From Latin sudarium, 'sweat-cloth'. A cloth for wiping the face, a handkerchief or napkin. People also used it to wrap money (Luke 19:20) or tie around the head or neck. Over a corpse it covered or bound the face or head.

Against the English

KJV 'napkin' meant a small handkerchief-sized cloth in 1611. Today it suggests a dinner napkin. Modern versions say 'cloth', 'face-cloth' or 'headcloth'.

How it drifted

'Napkin' came to mean mainly a table napkin in later English, so the KJV now carries an unintended dining-table image.

Used elsewhere in the period

New Testament: Luke 19:20 (the money wrapped in a cloth), Acts 19:12 (cloths taken from Paul to the sick), John 20:7 (the cloth that had been on Jesus' head, lying rolled up apart from the linen). It is a Latin loanword that also turns up in rabbinic Hebrew as sudar, which shows it was everyday vocabulary in Roman-period Judea.

From the study of Acts 19:12

Range of meaning

Borrowed from Latin sudarium, built on sudor, 'sweat'. It was a cloth for wiping sweat from the face or hands. It could be carried in the hand, tied round the head or neck, used to wrap money or valuables, or used as a face-cloth for the dead.

Against the English

'Handkerchief' (KJV and nearly all modern versions) is not wrong. But a modern reader pictures a folded pocket square or a small fabric 'prayer cloth'. The word suggests a sweat-rag from work.

How it drifted

English 'handkerchief' came to mean a personal accessory for the nose or pocket. The Latin root's link to sweat and labour was lost in translation.

Used elsewhere in the period

Elsewhere in the New Testament it is used for a cloth in which a servant wrapped money (Luke 19:20), the face-cloth on Lazarus (John 11:44), and the cloth over Jesus' head in the tomb (John 20:7). The Latin word is common in Roman writers for a sweat or face cloth. Its presence in Greek shows Roman everyday vocabulary at work in a provincial capital like Ephesus.

From the study of John 20:7

Range of meaning

Borrowed from Latin sudarium (from sudor, 'sweat'). A small cloth for wiping the face, kept on the person, used to wrap small items, and in burial used for the head. Lexicons (BDAG) give 'face-cloth, handkerchief'.

Against the English

KJV and YLT say 'napkin'. In 1611 a napkin was any small cloth or handkerchief; to a modern ear it means a table napkin. ESV and NASB say 'face cloth', BSB and WEB 'cloth', NIV 'cloth' / 'burial cloth'.

How it drifted

'Napkin' narrowed over time to the cloth used at meals. That narrowing helped spread a modern sermon story about dinner-table customs.

Used elsewhere in the period

Every NT use: Luke 19:20 (the servant wraps his mina in a soudarion), Acts 19:12 (handkerchiefs or sweat-cloths carried from Paul to the sick), John 11:44 (Lazarus comes out with 'his face bound around with a soudarion'). Greek papyri also attest it as an ordinary cloth. Jewish burial practice dealt with the head: Mishnah Shabbat 23:5 allows 'binding the jaw' of a corpse even on the Sabbath.

Where it appears

Luke · 1

  1. Luke 19:20 σουδαρίῳ· a piece of cloth;

    Then another servant came and said, ‘Master, here is your mina, which I have laid away in a piece of cloth.

John · 2

  1. John 11:44 σουδαρίῳ in a headcloth

    The man who had been dead came out with his hands and feet bound in strips of linen, and his face wrapped in a cloth. “Unwrap him and let him go,” Jesus told them.

    Here: A cloth borrowed from Latin sudarium, literally a 'sweat-cloth'. It was an everyday cloth for wiping the face, here wrapped around or over the dead man's face or head. The same word comes back in John 20:7 for the cloth left in Jesus' empty tomb.

  2. John 20:7 σουδάριον soudarion

    The cloth that had been around Jesus’ head was rolled up, lying separate from the linen cloths.

    Here: A Latin loanword (sudarium, literally 'sweat-cloth'): a small cloth of everyday use. In a burial it was the cloth for the head, either bound round the face and jaw or laid over the face. It is not a table napkin.

Acts · 1

  1. Acts 19:12 σουδάρια handkerchiefs

    so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and the diseases and evil spirits left them.

    Here: A word borrowed from Latin sudarium (from sudor, 'sweat'). It means a cloth for wiping sweat, perhaps tied round the head while working. It is a work rag, not a decorative handkerchief.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.