BIBLE DICTIONARY + WORD STUDY
How to read this: there is rarely one magic “true meaning” hidden behind an English word. A lexicon records a word’s semantic range. The intended meaning is narrowed by grammar, sentence, author, historical usage and context.
GREEK · G4676
soudarion — handkerchief
σουδάριον, -ου, τό(Lat.), handkerchief, kerchief: Luk.19:20, Act.19:12; used as a head covering for the dead, Jhn.11:44 20:7 (cf. Deiss., BS, 223).† (AS)
4 tagged verse occurrences · see every occurrence →Mentioned only Ezek. 13:18, 21, as an article of apparel or ornament applied to the head of the idolatrous women of Israel. The precise meaning of the word is uncertain. It appears to have been a long loose shawl, such as Oriental women wrap themselves in (Ruth 3:15; Isa. 3:22). Some think that it was a long veil or head-dress, denoting by its form the position of those who wore it.
Source: Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897). Historical dictionary wording reflects the scholarship and language of its era.
