The word as I understand it is used to mean a special kind of password, where not only must the word itself be spelt correctly but pronounced correctly, too. The Ephraimites didn't have "sh" in their dialect so could not pronounce the word correctly. You could take this further and say that the word therefore can mean not just "a test" but also "a token of power".
Dec 15, 2009
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Simon Dobby commented on the word shibboleth
The word as I understand it is used to mean a special kind of password, where not only must the word itself be spelt correctly but pronounced correctly, too. The Ephraimites didn't have "sh" in their dialect so could not pronounce the word correctly. You could take this further and say that the word therefore can mean not just "a test" but also "a token of power".
Dec 15, 2009