Lectionary Calendar
Saturday, November 2nd, 2024
the Week of Proper 25 / Ordinary 30
Attention!
For 10¢ a day you can enjoy StudyLight.org ads
free while helping to build churches and support pastors in Uganda.
Click here to learn more!

Bible Encyclopedias
Shibboleth

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

Search for…
or
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z
Prev Entry
Shibasaburo Kitazato
Next Entry
Shield
Resource Toolbox
Additional Links

a Hebrew word, meaning an ear of corn or a stream or river, from shdbal, to grow, increase, flow, used by Jephthah, probably in the second sense with reference to the river Jordan, as a test-word to distinguish the Ephraimites, who were unable to pronounce the sh, from the men of Gilead (see Judges xii. 6) at the passage of the Jordan. The word ciceri was similarly used at the time of the massacre of the French known as the Sicilian Vespers, for they betrayed their nationality by their inability to pronounce it. The term has also come generally to mean a watchword, catch-phrase or cry, to which the members of a party adhere after any significance or meaning which it may have imported has disappeared.

See Alphabet, i. 725, for a discussion of the sibilant difficulty involved in the test of Judges xii. 6.

Bibliography Information
Chisholm, Hugh, General Editor. Entry for 'Shibboleth'. 1911 Encyclopedia Britanica. https://www.studylight.org/​encyclopedias/​eng/​bri/​s/shibboleth.html. 1910.
 
adsfree-icon
Ads FreeProfile