Shibboleth
A shibboleth (/ˈʃɪbəlɛθ/[1] or /ˈʃɪbələθ/)[2] is a custom, principle, or belief distinguishing a particular class or group of people, especially a long-standing one regarded as outmoded or no longer important. It usually refers to features of language, and particularly to a word whose pronunciation identifies its speaker as being a member or not a member of a particular group.
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Recorded in the Book of Judges, chapter 12, after the inhabitants of Gilead inflicted a military defeat upon the tribe of Ephraim (around 1370–1070 BCE), the surviving Ephraimites tried to cross the Jordan River back into their home territory and the Gileadites secured the river’s fords to stop them. In order to identify and kill these refugees, the Gileadites put each refugee to a simple test:
Gilead then cut Ephraim off from the fords of the Jordan, and whenever Ephraimite fugitives said, ‘Let me cross,’ the men of Gilead would ask, ‘Are you an Ephraimite?’ If he said, ‘No,’ they then said, ‘Very well, say “Shibboleth” (שבלת).’ If anyone said, “Sibboleth” (סבלת), because he could not pronounce it, then they would seize him and kill him by the fords of the Jordan. Forty-two thousand Ephraimites fell on this occasion.
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During the Battle of the Bulge, American soldiers used knowledge of baseball to determine if others were fellow Americans or if they were German infiltrators in American uniform.[citation needed] The Dutch used the name of the port town Scheveningen as a shibboleth to tell Germans from the Dutch.
Prior to the Guldensporenslag (Battle of the Golden Spurs), in May 1302 the Flemish slaughtered every Frenchman they could find in the city of Bruges. They identified Frenchmen based on their inability to pronounce the Dutch phrase “Schild ende Vriend” (“Shield and Friend”), or possibly “‘s Gilden vriend” (“Friend of the Guilds”).[citation needed]
Bûter, brea, en griene tsiis; wa’t dat net sizze kin, is gjin oprjochte Fries (
example (help·info)) means “Butter, rye bread and green cheese, who cannot say that is not a genuine Frisian” was used by the Frisian Pier Gerlofs Donia during a Frisian rebellion (1515-1523). Ships whose crew could not pronounce this properly were usually plundered and soldiers who could not were beheaded by Donia himself.
