the.com/judas

The one disciple who made betrayal a proper noun.

means A person who betrays someone under the guise of friendship or trust, especially for personal gain.

from From Judas Iscariot, the disciple who, per the Gospels, identified Jesus to his arrest-party with a kiss — for thirty pieces of silver — making his name a byword for betrayal ever since. The word spread into odd corners of English too: a 'Judas kiss' for any treacherous show of affection, a 'Judas goat' for the trained animal that leads others calmly to slaughter while itself surviving, and even 'Judas hole' for the peephole in a prison door — someone always watching, unseen.

price tag
thirty pieces of silver, the original severance package
the kiss
turned affection into the ultimate warning sign
etymology win
his name now means traitor in a dozen languages
peephole irony
a judas is also a tiny door spy-hole, fittingly sneaky
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