Definition

a coil (spira, "spire"), i.e. (figuratively) a mass of men (a Roman military cohort; also (by analogy) a squad of Levitical janitors)

Etymology

of immediate Latin origin, but ultimately a derivative of G138 (αἱρέομαι) in the sense of its cognate G1507 (εἱλίσσω);

Where the KJV renders it

• band

Every distinct English word the King James Version uses to translate this Greek term. The variety shows what readers in English receive across many different surface words — the same underlying word, scattered across the English Bible under different names.

What the first audience heard

A deep-dive treatment of this word is in the works. The featured chapter above carries the long form of what this word meant to its first audience.