KJV Word of the Day: Quaternion

I take this word from Acts 12.4: “And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people. ” (Acts 12:4, KJV 1900).

From the King James Bible Word Book:

QUATERNION means a group or set of four. The Latin word quaternio was applied to the number four on dice; the Greek tetradion refers to four days in one of the ancient papyri discovered within the last 70 years, and to quires of four sheets of parchment in another. When Herod put Peter in prison, he assigned four quaternions of soldiers to guard him (Acts 12:4). The word “quaternion” was taken by Wyclif, and later by Tyndale, directly from the Latin Vulgate, and was retained by subsequent versions.

“Quaternion” is still living English in the realm of mathematics, and in the field of publishing, where it means a quire of four sheets, doubled so as to make sixteen pages. RSV drops the term and says “four squads of soldiers.” The significant fact is not that each squad was made up of four men, but that there were four squads, each to be on duty during one of the four three-hour watches of the night. The squad of soldiers which was detailed to crucify Jesus seems to have consisted of four men (John 19:23). There is an interesting article on Acts 12:4 in Edgar J. Goodspeed, Problems of New Testament Translation, pp. 131–132.