What is Shibboleth?
A '''shibboleth''' ({{IPAc-en|audio=GT Shibboleth.ogg|ˈ|ʃ|ɪ|b|əl|ɛ|θ|,_|-|ɪ|θ}})<ref>{{Citation |last=Jones |first=Daniel |title=English Pronouncing Dictionary |editor=Peter Roach |editor2=James Hartmann |editor3=Jane Setter |place=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |orig-year=1917 |year=2003 |isbn=3-12-539683-2 }}</ref><ref>{{MerriamWebsterDictionary|Shibboleth}}</ref> was originally a single word which distinguished one group from another.<ref>''Concise Oxford Dictionary'', 8th ed, (Oxford University Press, 1990), 1117.</ref><ref>''Merriam-Webster Dictionary'', [http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/shibboleth shibboleth], accessed online 22 September 2015.</ref><ref>''Collins English Dictionary'', [http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/shibboleth shibboleth], accessed online 22 September 2015.</ref> Rather more widely, it is any custom or [[tradition]] that distinguishes one group of people from another. Shibboleths have been used throughout history in many societies as [[password]]s. They are simple ways of self-identification: they signal loyalty and affinity. ==Origin== The term comes from the [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] word ''shibbólet'' ({{Hebrew|שִׁבֹּלֶת}}), which means the part of a plant containing [[grain]], such as the head of a stalk of [[wheat]] or [[rye]].<ref>Wahrig Deutsches Wörterbuch sixth edition, and {{cite web |work=Meyers Lexikon online |title=Schibboleth |url=http://lexikon.meyers.de/meyers/Schibboleth |access-date=2020-09-08 |archive-date=2009-04-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090429051715/http://lexikon.meyers.de/meyers/Schibboleth |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|work=American Heritage Dictionary, also sometimes rye, fourth edition |title=shibboleth |url=http://www.tfd.com/shibboleth}} {{cite web|work=[[Merriam-Webster]] Online Dictionary |title=shibboleth |url=http://m-w.com/dictionary/shibboleth}} The context was the crossing of the River Jordan; according to E.A. Speiser, op. cit., 10, the medieval Hebrew commentators and most