{"id":55827,"date":"2019-05-20T23:02:38","date_gmt":"2019-05-20T20:02:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=55827"},"modified":"2022-12-13T13:40:48","modified_gmt":"2022-12-13T11:40:48","slug":"shibboleth-then-and-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/shibboleth-then-and-now\/","title":{"rendered":"Shibboleth \u2013 Then And Now"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[798,377],"acf":{"old_id":"55827","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":33877,"related_cahpter":"223","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"What if it was the Brooklynites chasing the Manhattanites to the Brooklyn Bridge? They have a woyd for it...","content":"

Our chapter continues the story of Jephthah, who now leads the Gileadites to capture the fords of the Jordan, preventing the Ephraimites from re-entering the Promised Land. When a suspected Ephraimite would try to cross back over the Jordan, the men of Gilead questioned his tribal identity. If he denied being from the tribe of Ephraim, they told him to say \u2018shibboleth.\u2019 Since Ephraimites were known to not be able to correctly pronounce the sound \u201csh\u201d, in this and similar words, anyone saying \u2018sibboleth\u2019 was killed (Judges 12:5-6). Based on our biblical narrative, since the 17<\/span>th<\/span> century, the English word \u201cshibboleth\u201d has come to indicate a \u201cpassword\u201d or slogan used by a particular group but regarded by others as empty of real meaning.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to the Jewish assyriologist, E.A. Speiser (BASOR 85\/1942), the pronunciation of the initial sound in the Hebrew word \u201cshibbolet\u201d was a geographically determined dialectical difference, the boundary of which was the River Jordan. On the basis of comparative Semitic linguistics, Speiser theorizes that it may have actually been the Gileadites who retained an ancient form of the Hebrew word \u201cshibbolet\u201d that they pronounced \u201ctubbult\u201d, but which other Hebrew speakers in Biblical Palestine pronounced \u201cshibbolet\u201d, as indicated in our Scriptural text. In this context, however pronounced, the \u201ctest-word\u201d meant \u201cstream of flowing water\u201d (compare Psalms 69:2-3), appropriately referring to the Jordan River that the Ephraimites sought to cross. <\/span><\/p>\n

To illustrate his point, Speiser creatively imagines a riot that could have broken out at a sporting event at Ebbets Field, Brooklyn. The Brooklynites chase the Manhattanites to the Brooklyn Bridge. Those who pronounced the word \u201cword\u201d as \u201cwoyd\u201d according to the Brooklynese pronunciation were identified as Brooklyn fans. While others, identified in this way as Manhattan fans, found this escape route blocked to them and apparently suffered the consequences.<\/span><\/p>\n

The close relationship between \u201cSh\u201d and \u201cS\u201d is basic to the Hebrew language, which represents both these phonemes in unvocalized texts with a single Hebrew letter, pronounced in some words as \u201cSh\u201d and in others as \u201cS\u201d. Biblical words written with the letter pronounced \u201cS\u201d, called \u201cSin\u201d, are sometimes written in later Hebrew with a different Hebrew letter, \u201cSamekh\u201d, always pronounced \u201cS\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

The \u201cSh-S\u201d shift, at the basis of our biblical text, is a linguistic phenomenon exemplified by the comparison of Hebrew to Greek \u2013 the latter having no letter to represent the \u201cSh\u201d phoneme. This led to Hebrew \u201cshabbat\u201d being transliterated into Greek as \u201csabbaton\u201d, which led to Latin \u201csabbatum\u201d, and subsequently to English \u201csabbath\u201d. Similarly, in other Western European languages, the originally Hebrew word \u201cshabbat\u201d was transliterated as Spanish \u201csabado\u201d and Italian \u201csabato\u201d. By the same linguistic process, the Hebrew name \u201cShelomo\u201d became our Anglicized \u201cSolomon\u201d and Arabic \u201cSuleiman\u201d, all of which etymologically suggest \u201cman of Peace [Shalom]\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

In our day, mispronunciation of the phoneme \u201csh\u201d as \u201cs\u201d has been regarded as a \u201cfunctional speech disorder\u201d. This usually resolves itself by about age five, but sometimes continues on into adulthood — as apparently with the Biblical Ephraimites.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":55828,"id":55828,"title":"jud12-shin-sin","filename":"jud12-shin-sin.png","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud12-shin-sin.png","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/shibboleth-then-and-now\/jud12-shin-sin\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"jud12-shin-sin","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":55827,"date":"2019-05-20 20:02:23","modified":"2019-05-20 20:02:33","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/png","type":"image","subtype":"png","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":300,"height":224,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud12-shin-sin-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud12-shin-sin-300x224.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":224,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud12-shin-sin.png","medium_large-width":300,"medium_large-height":224,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud12-shin-sin.png","large-width":300,"large-height":224,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud12-shin-sin.png","1536x1536-width":300,"1536x1536-height":224,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud12-shin-sin.png","2048x2048-width":300,"2048x2048-height":224,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud12-shin-sin.png","post_full_size-width":300,"post_full_size-height":224,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud12-shin-sin.png","home_baner-width":300,"home_baner-height":224}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"Shibboleth \u2013 Then And Now","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"What if it was the Brooklynites chasing the Manhattanites to the Brooklyn Bridge? 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