sudra (headdress)

The English sudra derives from Jewish Aramaic {{lang|tmr|סודרא‎}}, {{transliteration|en|suḏārā}}. It in turn derives from the {{Langx|grc-x-koine|σουδάριον|translit=soudárion|lit=towel}}, a borrowing of the pre-Augustan {{Langx|la|sūdārium|lit=cloth for wiping away sweat, handkerchief}}, if not directly from Latin. The word originates in Latin, deriving from the adjective {{Lang|la|sūdārius}} , {{lit|sweaty}} from {{Langx|la|sūdor|lit=sweat}} and the suffix {{nowrap|{{lang|la|-ārium}}}} meant to denote purpose in this case.{{Cite journal |last=Aaron Michael |first=Butts |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.31826/9781463240028/html |title=Latin Words in Classical Syriac |journal=Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies |date=2018-12-06 |publisher=Gorgias Press |isbn=978-1-4632-4002-8 |editor1-last=Kiraz |editor1-first=George Anton |volume=19 |page=134 |language=en |doi=10.31826/9781463240028 |s2cid=239370393|url-access=subscription }}{{cite book |last=Kwasman |first=Theodore |chapter=15 Loanwords in Jewish Babylonian Aramaic: Some Preliminary Observations |date=2015-01-01 |url=https://brill.com/view/book/edcoll/9789004304895/B9789004304895_017.xml |title=The Archaeology and Material Culture of the Babylonian Talmud |page=353 |editor-last=Geller |editor-first=Markham J. |publisher=Brill |doi=10.1163/9789004304895_017 |isbn=978-90-04-30488-8 |access-date=2022-09-18}}{{Cite dictionary |dictionary=A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities |year=1890 |title=sudarium |url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0063:entry=sudarium-cn |access-date=2021-09-12 |via=Perseus Project at Tufts University}}{{Cite dictionary|last=Sokoloff |first=Michael |title=A dictionary of Jewish Babylonian Aramaic of the talmudic and geonic periods |date=2002 |publisher=Bar Ilan University Press |isbn=965-226-260-9 |page=792 |oclc=1015128901}}

The Babylonian Talmud presents what Jastrow calls a "playful etymology" of the term as a contraction of {{Langx|hbo|ס֣וֹד יְ֭הֹוָה לִירֵאָ֑יו

|lit=The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him|translit=sud ʾadonay lireʾāw}}, a section of Psalm 25:14.{{Cite web |title=Jastrow, סוּדָרָא 1 |url=https://www.sefaria.org/Jastrow,_%D7%A1%D7%95%D6%BC%D7%93%D6%B8%D7%A8%D6%B8%D7%90.1?lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en |access-date=2022-09-20 |website=Sefaria}}{{Cite web |title=Shabbat 77b:11 |url=https://www.sefaria.org/Shabbat.77b.11?lang=bi |access-date=2022-09-16 |website=Sefaria}}

The exact historical origins of wearing a piece of cloth wrapped around one's head are, at the moment, unclear. Some of the earliest examples can be found in artworks from ancient Mesopotamia, like statues of statues of Gudea wearing a turban-like garment.{{Cite book |last=Legrain |first=Leon |url=https://www.penn.museum/sites/journal/8992/ |title=Sumerian sculptures |publisher=Museum of the University of Pennsylvania |year=1927 |series=The Museum Journal |volume=XVIII, no. 3 |pages=217–247 |oclc=18723697}} Similar headdresses might have been worn back as early as 2600 BCE. These headdresses are often imbued with great historical, religious, and cultural significance in the Near East.Ethnic Dress in the United States: A Cultural Encyclopedia, page [https://books.google.com/books?id=tiEvBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA293&dq= 293], Annette Lynch, Mitchell D. Strauss, Rowman & Littlefield According to the Irish Professor of Biblical studies John Raymond Bartlett, the Hebrews also wore pieces of cloth, either fashioned like the keffiyeh, a folded-up piece of fabric wound around one's head, or like a turban or knit cap.{{cite book |author=J. R. Bartlett |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uj44AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA246 |title=The First and Second Books of the Maccabees |date=19 July 1973 |publisher=CUP Archive |isbn=978-0-521-09749-9 |page=246 |quote=traditional Jewish head-dress was either something like the Arab's Keffiyeh (a cotton square folded and wound around a head) or like a turban or stocking cap |access-date=17 April 2013}}

File:Gudea_of_Lagash_Girsu.jpg wearing a turban-like garment from {{Circa|2400 BCE}}]]

The {{Lang|la|sūdārium}} was kept much like a pocket handkerchief but mainly used for wiping away sweat, as the name implies. It was a modern invention around the time of Cicero when fine-linen first came to Rome. In the east of the empire, the term was borrowed by Hellenistic writers as {{Lang|grc|σουδάριον}} soudárion, replacing older terms. It can be found in texts dealing with events in Province of Judaea like the New Testament for example, where it is mentioned in {{bibleverse|Luke|19:20|NKJV}}, {{bibleverse|John|11:44|NKJV}}, {{bibleverse|John|20:7|NKJV}} (see Sudarium of Oviedo) and {{bibleverse|Acts|19:12|NKJV}}.{{Cite web |title=Biblehub |url=https://biblehub.com/greek/strongs_4676.htm%7Caccess-date=2024-10-30}} Besides being used to wipe away sweat it was also worn around the neck as a piece of clothing akin to a scarf. In the Latin-speaking empire the term {{Lang|la|ōrārium}} came to replace {{Lang|la|sūdārium}} during the Augustan age. This piece of cloth when waved in the air also came to be used to signify applause in Rome, replacing the lappet of the toga used previously for this purpose. Wilhelm Adolf Becker argues against the use of the {{Lang|la|sūdārium}} being used to wipe one's nose. The {{Lang|la|sūdārium}} also came to be part of Roman military armor, commonly called focale in its function as a neckerchief to protect against chafing by the armor.Nic Fields, The Roman Army of the Principate 27 BC-AD 117 (Osprey, 2009), p. 25. This use of the {{Lang|la|sūdārium}} in Roman military attire is sometimes seen as precursor of the modern necktie.Daniel K. Hall, How to Tie a Tie: Choosing, Coordinating, and Knotting Your Neckwear (Sterling, 2008), p. 8.Oscar Lenius, The Well-Dressed Gentleman (LIT Verlag Münster, 2010), p. 93.

In the 5th century when the Peshitta was translated, the term sudra refers to a shroud (burial cloth); for example, in John 11:44 ({{Langx|syc|ܘܰܐܦ݁ܰܘܗ݈ܝ ܐܰܣܺܝܪܳܢ ܒ݁ܣܽܘܕ݂ܳܪܳܐ|lit=and his face bound in a sudra|translit=wappaw asīrān bəsūḏārā}}).{{Cite web |title=The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon |url=https://cal.huc.edu/oneentry.php?lemma=swdr%20N&cits=all |access-date=2022-09-20 |website=cal.huc.edu}} This meaning is reflected in the names of the relics of the Sudarium of Oviedo and the Sudarium of Veronica.{{cite book |last=Flug |first=Brigitte |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZUqzSW9zWP4C |title=Äussere Bindung und innere Ordnung: das Altmünsterkloster in Mainz in seiner Geschichte und Verfassung von den Anfängen bis zum Ende des 14. Jahrhunderts: mit Urkundenbuch |publisher=Franz Steiner |year=2006 |isbn=978-3-515-08241-9 |page=46 |language=de}}

Katz, Houtman, and Sysling explain why the same name would call a burial cloth and a headdress. While discussing the meaning of {{Langx|he|שְׂמִיכָה|śəmiḵā|blanket}}, a word mentioned a single time in the Hebrew Bible in Judges 4:18, rabbinical scholars of Syria Palaestina championed definitions for the obscure term, which define it as a sudra, while those from Babylon champion the definition {{Lang|tmr|משיכלא}} "cloak". This elucidated the Jewish Palestinian Aramaic use of the term sudra as a broad term for textile sheets used for coving the bodies of human beings.{{Cite book |last1=Houtman |first1=Alberdina |url=https://brill.com/view/title/16377 |title=Alternative Targum Traditions: The Use of Variant Readings for the Study in Origin and History of Targum Jonathan |last2=Sysling |first2=Harry |date=2009-09-30 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-17842-7 |page=220 |chapter=Quotations Of Targumic Passages From The Prophets In Rabbinic And Medieval Sources |doi=10.1163/ej.9789004178427.i-304.19}}{{Cite journal |last=Katz |first=Tamar |date=2014 |title=Difficult Biblical Words in Modern Hebrew / על דרכן של מילים מקראיות קשות אל לשון ימינו |journal=Lĕšonénu: A Journal for the Study of the Hebrew Language and Cognate Subjects / לשוננו: כתב-עת לחקר הלשון העברית והתחומים הסמוכים לה |volume=עו |issue=א/ב |page=72 |jstor=24328443 |issn=0334-3626}} Sokoloff corroborates this broader use stating the sudra to have been a "piece of cloth [...] employed to tie and cover a variety of items" apart from a garment.{{Efn|Being used to wrap jugs, tefillin, money, and foodstuffs according to the Babylonian Talmud.{{Cite web |title=Shabbat 148b:1 |url=https://www.sefaria.org/Shabbat.148b.1?lang=bi&vside=Talmud_Bavli._German_trans._by_Lazarus_Goldschmidt,_1929_%5Bde%5D%7Cen&with=Translation%20Open&lang2=en |access-date=2022-09-18 |website=www.sefaria.org}}{{Cite web |title=Sukkah 26a:14 |url=https://www.sefaria.org/Sukkah.26a.14?lang=bi&vside=Talmud_Bavli._German_trans._by_Lazarus_Goldschmidt,_1929_%5Bde%5D%7Cen&with=Translation%20Open&lang2=en |access-date=2022-09-18 |website=www.sefaria.org}}{{Cite web |title=Sanhedrin 48a:5 |url=https://www.sefaria.org/Sanhedrin.48a.5?lang=bi&vside=Talmud_Bavli._German_trans._by_Lazarus_Goldschmidt,_1929_%5Bde%5D%7Cen&with=Translation%20Open&lang2=en |access-date=2022-09-18 |website=www.sefaria.org}}{{Cite web |title=Gittin 68a:1 |url=https://www.sefaria.org/Gittin.68a.1?lang=bi&vside=Talmud_Bavli._German_trans._by_Lazarus_Goldschmidt,_1929_%5Bde%5D%7Cen&with=Translation%20Open&lang2=en |access-date=2022-09-18 |website=www.sefaria.org}}}}

The Babylonian Talmud details different Jewish customs surrounding the sudra; for example in tractate Bava Metzia it tells of letting another man touch a sudra, at least 3 finger-widths by 3 finger-widths large, in place of the sandal demanded by {{Tanakhverse|Ruth|4:7|}}, for purposes of authorising a transaction.{{Cite web |title=Bava Metzia 7a:9 |url=https://www.sefaria.org/Bava_Metzia.7a.9?lang=bi&p2=Bava_Metzia.7a.9&ven2=Talmud_Bavli._German_trans._by_Lazarus_Goldschmidt,_1929_%5Bde%5D&lang2=bi |access-date=2022-09-16 |website=www.sefaria.org}}{{Cite web |title=Bava Kamma 119b:14 |url=https://www.sefaria.org/Bava_Kamma.119b.14?lang=bi&p2=Bava_Kamma.119b.14&ven2=Talmud_Bavli._German_trans._by_Lazarus_Goldschmidt,_1929_%5Bde%5D&lang2=bi |access-date=2022-09-16 |website=www.sefaria.org}} Wajsberg identifies this mention of the sudra as a late addition to the text, being absent from earlier versions and as evidence of Jewish Palestinian Aramaic linguistic influence on the Babylonian Talmud.{{Cite journal |last=Wajsberg |first=Eljakim |date=2004 |title=The Aramaic Dialect of the Palestinian Traditions in the Babylonian Talmud — Part A |script-title=he:(הלשון הארמית של היצירה הארץ-ישראלית בתלמוד הבבלי (א |journal=Lĕšonénu: A Journal for the Study of the Hebrew Language and Cognate Subjects |language=he |volume=סו |issue=ג/ד |page=271 |jstor=24331408 |issn=0334-3626}} Havlin also observes that some versions of the targum of the Book of Ruth 1:17 contain the term. In most versions of the section, in which Naomi lists four methods of execution employed by the Jews, the fourth method is stated as 'cruxifixction'. MS De Rossi 31 however deviates from this claim, through what appears to be a scribal correction of what the corrector understood to be a halakhic error. It states: {{lang|tmr|וחניקת סודרה}} uḥəniqaṯ suḏrā "and suffocation [by means of] sudra" instead of {{lang|tmr|וצליבת קיסא}} uṣəliḇaṯ qaysā "and crucifixion on wood". Havil's view of the sudra being a tool for torment and execution in halakhic tradition is based on numerous mentions of this use, such as the Targum Pseudo-Jonathan{{'}}s translation of Exodus 21:16 ({{lang|jpa|יתקטיל בשינוקא דסודרא‏}} yiṯqaṭṭil bšinnuqā ḏsudrā "he should be killed by strangulation of the sudra") as well as a section from Avodah Zarah which states, {{lang|tmr|רמו ליה סודרא בצואריה וקא מצערו ליה}} rmu leh sudrā ḇṣwāreh uqā mṣaʿʿaru leh|lit "They threw a sudra around his neck and tormented him".{{Cite journal |last=Havlin |first=Shlomo Zalman |date=1986 |title=The Aramaic Translation of "Ruth"—a Vulgate Translation? |script-title=he:תרגום ספר רות — "תרגום של הדיוטות"? |trans-title= |journal=Sidra: A Journal for the Study of Rabbinic Literature / סידרא: כתב-עת לחקר ספרות התורה שבעל-פה |language=he |volume=ב |page=28 |jstor=24164401 |issn=0334-6986}}{{Cite web |title=Jastrow, סוּדָר |url=https://www.sefaria.org/Jastrow,_%D7%A1%D7%95%D6%BC%D7%93%D6%B8%D7%A8?lang=bi |access-date=2022-09-16 |website=www.sefaria.org}}{{Cite web |title=Avodah Zarah 4a:11 |url=https://www.sefaria.org/Avodah_Zarah.4a.11 |access-date=2021-09-12 |website=www.sefaria.org}}{{Cite web |title=The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon – TgPsJon Exod chapter 21:16 |url=https://cal.huc.edu/showachapter.php?fullcoord=8100122116 |access-date=2022-09-16 |website=cal.huc.edu}}{{Cite book |last=Lier |first=Gudrun E. |url=https://brill.com/view/title/63170 |title=The Septuagint South of Alexandria: Essays on the Greek Translations and Other Ancient Versions by the Association for the Study of the Septuagint in South Africa (LXXSA) |date=2022-09-21 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-52138-4 |editor-last=Cook |editor-first=Johann |pages=419–420 |chapter=Chapter 19 Masks in Bible, Targum, and Talmud: An Investigative Study |doi=10.1163/9789004521384_020 |editor-last2=Kotzé |editor-first2=Gideon R. |chapter-url=https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004521384_020}}

The Babylonian Talmud states fashions of wearing the garment and who wore it. Several tractates thereof describe it as being wrapped around one's head.{{Cite web |title=Berakhot 51a:20 |url=https://www.sefaria.org/Berakhot.51a.20?lang=bi |access-date=2022-09-16 |website=www.sefaria.org}} Berakhot 60b:5 additionally provides a prayer to be recited upon attiring the garment in this fashion: {{Lang|tmr|ברוך ... עוטר ישראל בתפארה}} baruḵ ... ʿuṭer yiśraʾel bṯip̄ʾārā|liṯ "Blessed ... is he who crowns Israel with glory".{{Cite web |title=Berakhot 60b |url=https://www.sefaria.org/Berakhot.60b.5?lang=bi |access-date=2022-09-16 |website=www.sefaria.org}}

File:Sudra_round_the_neck.jpg

Another fashion mentioned therein is wearing the sudra around one's neck, Marcus Jastrow suggests that it also had been worn over one's arms. The Orach Chayim section of the Shulchan Aruch, a collection of religious law from 1565, states that the Arabic name of the sudra worn this way is {{lang|arc|שי״ד}} šid; {{lang|arc|סודר שנותנין על הצואר במלכות א"י שנקרא בערבי שי"ד וכן ביק"א שהיו נותנין בספרד על כתפיהם פטורים}}, lit. "A sudra which is worn upon the neck in the kingdom of the Land of Israel named in Arabic šīd, also the biqā, which was worn in Sepharad (Spain) over their shoulders are exempt [from the requirement of tzitzit]".{{Cite web |title=Shulchan Arukh, Orach Chayim 10:10-12 |url=https://www.sefaria.org/Shulchan_Arukh,_Orach_Chayim.10.11 |access-date=2021-09-14 |website=www.sefaria.org}}{{Cite web |title=Shabbat 120a:8 |url=https://www.sefaria.org/Shabbat.120a.8?lang=bi |access-date=2022-09-16 |website=www.sefaria.org}} The 10th century commentator Rashi states, "And the Sudra is arranged on one's neck – and the ends were used to wipe one's mouth or eyes" ({{lang|arc|וסודר שבצוארו - ותלויין ראשיו לפניו לקנח בו פיו ועיניו}}), commenting on this passage.{{Cite web |title=Rashi on Shabbat 120a:8:12 |url=https://www.sefaria.org/Rashi_on_Shabbat.120a.8.12?lang=bi |access-date=2022-09-16 |website=www.sefaria.org}}

Saul Lieberman suggests that the headdress worn by religious authorities called "a sudra" is unrelated to the Roman sudarium and is instead a cidaris ({{Lang|grc|κίδαρις}} kídaris), a loanword from a Semitic language and cognate to {{langx|he|כֶּתֶר|keṯer|crown|links=no}}). For this he, cites an early medieval Latin glossary which states, "The Cidarim is a cloth which Jews keep over their heads during day of the Sabbath." ({{Lang|la|Cidarim linteus est quod repites iudeorum die sabbato super caput habent ualde mundum.}}) {{Cite web |title=Tosefta Kifshutah on Shabbat 5:11:1 |url=https://www.sefaria.org/Tosefta_Kifshutah_on_Shabbat.5.11.1?lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en |access-date=2022-09-16 |website=www.sefaria.org |language=he}}{{Cite book |last=Goetz |first=Georg |url=http://archive.org/details/h-5-ocr-compressed-2 |title=CORPVS GLOSSARIORVM LATINORVM |publisher=SOCIETATIS LITTERARVM REGIAE SAXONICAE |year=1894 |location=Leipzig |page=12 |language=la}} The cidaris was a turban-like headdress worn by the Kings of Persia and, as stated before, also the rabbinical authorities.{{Cite book |last=Beekes |first=Robert |title=Etymological dictionary of Greek |date=2010 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-17418-4 |page=694 |oclc=909831201}}

According to Lier, Targumim suggest Moses wore a sudra on his head, specifically his radiant forehead, thus concealing the nature of Yahweh, except when revealing the Ten Commandments, when he is meant to have removed his sudra from his forehead according to Lier.

There is textual evidence for its use as footwear.{{Cite web |title=Yevamot 102b:19 |url=https://www.sefaria.org/Yevamot.102b.19?lang=bi&vside=Talmud_Bavli._German_trans._by_Lazarus_Goldschmidt,_1929_%5Bde%5D%7Cen&with=Translation%20Open&lang2=en |access-date=2022-09-18 |website=www.sefaria.org}}

Amongst Mizrahi Jews, the custom mostly remained despite prohibitions imposed by various non-Jewish rulers. One example of such a prohibition is the 1667 ʿAṭarot decree issued by the Qasimid State, which prohibited Jews from wearing anything resembling an ʿaṭaroṯ ({{Langx|jye|עטרת|ʿaṭaroṯ|cloth turbans}}, from {{Langx|he|עטר|lit=to crown|translit=ʿāṭer}}); that is, from wearing any cloth to cover their heads. The goal of this decree was to humiliate Jews by depriving them of a respectable appearance by forcing them to use their clothes to cover their heads. The situation was remedied by Yemenite Jews bribing government officials. The solution achieved through this act of corruption allowed Jews to wear cloths on their heads again, but they had to be shabby cloths.{{Cite book |first=Reuben |last=Ahroni |title=Tribulations and aspirations in Yemenite Hebrew literature |date=1979 |publisher=[Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion] |page=278 |oclc=44706373}}{{Cite book |last=Eraqi-Klorman |first=Bat Zion |title=The Jews of Yemen in the Nineteenth Century: A Portrait of a Messianic Community |publisher=BRILL |year=1993 |isbn=90-04-09684-1 |location= |pages=37–38}}

• Sudarium – Roman garment conceptually related
• Priestly turban – Ancient Jewish headdress
• Keffiyeh – Similar regional headdress
• Shtreimel – Jewish fur headdress

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