Artscroll on 'Pharisees'

Mishna Sotah 3:3

; והוא היה אומר, חסיד שוטה, רשע ערום, אישה פרושה, מכות פרושים--הרי אלו מבלי עולם

Soncino Talmud translation:

HE USED TO SAY, A FOOLISH PIETIST, A CUNNING ROGUE, A FEMALE PHARISEE, AND THE PLAGUE OF PHARISEES BRING DESTRUCTION UPON THE WORLD.

Artscroll Schottenstein Talmud translation:

He used to say: A foolish pietist, a cunning evildoer, an ascetic woman and the wounds of the ascetics these are the ruiners of the world.

Gemara Sotah 22B

ומכות פרושין וכו': ת"ר שבעה פרושין הן פרוש שיכמי פרוש נקפי פרוש קיזאי פרוש מדוכיא פרוש מה חובתי ואעשנה פרוש מאהבה פרוש מיראה

Soncino Talmud translation:

AND THE PLAGUE OF PHARISEES etc. Our Rabbis have taught: There are seven types of Pharisees: the shikmi Pharisee, the nikpi Pharisee, the kizai Pharisee, the 'pestle' Pharisee, the Pharisee [who constantly exclaims] 'What is my duty that I may perform it?', the Pharisee from love [of God] and the Pharisee from fear.

Artscroll Schottenstein Talmud translation:

AND THE WOUNDS OF THE ASCETICS etc. [are ruiners of the world]. The Rabbis taught in a Baraisa: THERE ARE SEVEN types of insincere ASCETICS: A SHECHEMITE ASCETIC, A KNOCKING ASCETIC, A BLOODLETTING ASCETIC, A PESTLE ASCETIC, A "WHAT IS MY OBLIGATION AND I WILL DO IT" ASCETIC, AN ASCETIC OUT OF LOVE of reward AND AN ASCETIC OUT OF FEAR of punishment.

As you can plainly see, something's goin' on here. What's p^eshat, Pharisees? Ascetics? What does the Mishna or the Gemara mean by "פרושין"?

First, it should be noted that in a technical sense the Artscroll translation is correct. A reasonable translation of "פרושין" is "ascetics."

Here's the first definition given by the Oxford English Dictionary for "Pharisee":

1. A member of a religious party within Judaism between the second cent. B.C. and New Testament times, distinguished by its rigorous interpretation and observance of the written Mosaic law as well as the traditions of the elders.

And here is its etymology (skipping some steps that are irrelevent here):

Aramaic prayy, emphatic plural of pr separatist (lit. ‘separated’), cognate with Hebrew pr separatist, seceder, Pharisee (lit. ‘abstemious, self-denying’

So what we have are two different views. In the one, the world of the OED (and as reflected by the Soncino translation) a particular group of Jews (think of them as proto-Hazal and their followers if you like) existed about 2000 years ago, they were called פרושין, which deservedly should be rendered Pharisees in English. The other view is that 2000 years ago there were people who were פרושין, that is, they were ascetics.

There is certainly some merit to the Artscroll approach, because it is likely that this is how ancient Jews understood the situation, even though Josephus identifies Pharisees as a distinct group, along with the Sadducees and Essenes. However--and here is the rub--even though the Artscroll approach may well be correct, at the same time it is impossible to escape the fact that there is a concept of "Pharisees," and its likely, if not certain, that the Mishna in Sotah is talking about the very same people which Josephus and the New Testament called Pharisees. Artscroll doesn't even hint to this fact, not in its "elucidation" nor in its annotation.

What does the oilam think, is this an error on Artscroll's part? Is this particular bit of translation more confidently Jewish than Soncino's? Should A. have pointed out in the notes the other meaning of פרושין?