Ashibboleth (/ˈʃɪbəlɛθ,-ɪθ/ (
listen))[1][2] was originally a single word which distinguished one group from another.[3][4][5]
Rather more widely, it is any custom ortradition that distinguishes one group of people from another. Shibboleths have been used throughout history in many societies aspasswords. They are simple ways of self-identification: they signal loyalty and affinity.
The term comes from theHebrew wordshibbólet (שִׁבֹּלֶת), which means the part of a plant containinggrain, such as the head of a stalk ofwheat orrye.[6][7]
The modern use comes from an account in theHebrew Bible. How this word was pronounced was used to distinguish friend from foe. In theBook of Judges, chapter 12, the inhabitants ofGilead inflicted a military defeat on the invadingtribe of Ephraim (around 1370–1070 BC). The surviving Ephraimites tried to cross theRiver Jordan to their home territory, but the Gileadites secured the river's fords to stop them.
To identify and kill the Ephraimites, the Gileadites told each suspected survivor to say the wordshibboleth (withvoiceless postalveolar fricative). The Ephraimite dialect resulted in a pronunciation that, to Gileadites, sounded likesibboleth.[8] In theKing James Bible:[9]
And the Gileadites took the passages of Jordan before the Ephraimites: and it was so, that when those Ephraimites which were escaped said, Let me go over; that the men of Gilead said unto him, Art thou an Ephraimite? If he said, Nay;
Then said they unto him, Say now Shibboleth: and he said Sibboleth: for he could not frame to pronounce it right. Then they took him, and slew him at the passages of Jordan: and there fell at that time of the Ephraimites forty and two thousand.— Judges 12:5–6 KJV
The concept of a shibboleth is still with us. It is any word,phrase,jargon orpronunciation which identifies a person as a member of a particular group.
