handkerchief Summary and Overview
Bible Dictionaries at a Glance
handkerchief in Easton's Bible Dictionary
Only once in Authorized Version (Acts 19:12). The Greek word (sudarion) so rendered means properly "a sweat-cloth." It is rendered "napkin" in John 11:44; 20:7; Luke 19:20.
handkerchief in Schaff's Bible Dictionary
HANDKERCHIEF , NAPKIN, A'PRON, These articles were pretty much alike, differing mainly in use. See Clothes.
handkerchief in 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.