Handkerchief

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

("napkin".) The two translations of the same term, Soudarion , the Graecized Latin Sudarium , literally, "that wherewith the sweat is wiped off". Apron Simikinthion , the Graecized Latin Semicinctium ("wider than the Cinctus "). Sudarium means:

(1) a wrapper to fold up money in,  Luke 19:20;

(2) a cloth about a corpse's head ( John 11:44, Lazarus;  John 20:7, our Lord), brought from the crown under the chin;

(3) a handkerchief worn on the head, as the Bedouin's Keffieh ( Acts 19:12). The Semicinctium was the artisan's linen garment for the front of the body.

Vine's Expository Dictionary of NT Words

1: Σουδάριον (Strong'S #4676 — Noun Neuter — soudarion — soo-dar'-ee-on )

a Latin word, sudarium (from sudor, "sweat"), denotes (a) "a cloth for wiping the face," etc.,  Luke 19:20;  Acts 19:12; (b) "a headcovering for the dead,"  John 11:44;  20:7 . See Napkin.

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Handkerchief.  Luke 19:20;  John 11:44;  John 20:7;  Acts 19:12. This term was used in much the same manner, and having much the same significance as at the present.

Webster's Dictionary

(1): ( n.) A piece of cloth, usually square and often fine and elegant, carried for wiping the face or hands.

(2): ( n.) A piece of cloth shaped like a handkerchief to be worn about the neck; a neckerchief; a neckcloth.

Morrish Bible Dictionary

Any small cloth.  Acts 19:12 . The same is translated 'napkin' in  Luke 19:20;  John 11:14;

 John 20:7 .

Holman Bible Dictionary

soudarion soudarion   Acts 19:12 Luke 19:20 John 11:44 John 20:7

Easton's Bible Dictionary

 Acts 19:12 John 11:44 20:7 Luke 19:20

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature

Napkin

Handkerchief, Napkin, occurs in;;; . The word is employed in Scripture in a variety of meanings. In the first instance it means a wrapper, in which the 'wicked servant' had laid up the pound entrusted to him by his master. In the second instance it appears as a kerchief, or cloth attached to the head of a corpse. It was perhaps brought round the forehead and under the chin. In many Egyptian mummies it does not cover the face. In ancient times among the Greeks it did. The next instance is that of the 'napkin' which had been 'about the head' of our Lord, but which, after his resurrection, was found rolled up, as if deliberately, and put in a place separately from the linen clothes. The last instance of the Biblical use of the word occurs in the account of 'the special miracles' wrought by the hands of Paul 'so that handkerchiefs, napkins, wrappers, shawls, etc., were brought from his body to the sick; and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them.' The Ephesians had not unnaturally inferred that the apostle's miraculous power could be communicated by such a mode of contact; and certainly cures thus received by parties at a distance, among a people famed for their addictedness to 'curious arts,' i.e. magical skill, etc., would serve to convince them of the truth of the gospel, by a mode well suited to interest their minds.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

haṇ´kẽr - chif ( σουδάριον , soudárion ): A loan-word from the Latin sudarium , found in plural in   Acts 19:12 , soudária  ; compare sudor , "perspiration"; literally, "a cloth used to wipe off perspiration." Elsewhere it is rendered "napkin" ( Luke 19:20;  John 11:44;  John 20:7 ), for which see Dress; Napkin .