Other Definitions
shibboleth (dict)
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Shibboleth - For the Internet2 research project, see Shibboleth (Internet2).
The Hebrew word shibboleth literally means "ear of wheat". In the Bible, pronunciation of this word was used to distinguish members of a group whose dialect lacked a "sh" sound from members of a group whose dialect included such a sound. The consequences of getting it wrong were fatal: - And the Gileadites seized the passages of the Jordan before the Ephraimites; and it was so, that when those Ephraimites who had escaped said, "Let me go over," that the men of Gilead said unto him, "Art thou an Ephraimite?" If he said, "Nay," then said they unto him, "Say now 'Shibboleth.'" And he said "Sibboleth," for he could not frame to pronounce it right. Then they took him and slew him at the passages of the Jordan; and there fell at that time of the Ephraimites forty and two thousand. (Judges 12:5-6, King James Version of the Bible)
Today, "shibboleth" refers to words and phrases that can be used in a similar way—to distinguish members of a group from outsiders. The word is also sometimes used in a broader sense to mean specialized jargon, the proper use of which reveals speakers as members of a particular group or subculture. For example, people who regularly use words like "stfnal," "grok," "filk," and "gafiate" in conversation are likely members of science fiction fandom. Shibboleths can also be customs or practices, such as male circumcision. Cultural touchstones and shared experience can also be shibboleths of a sort. For example, people about the same age tend to have the same memories of popular songs, television shows, and events from their formative years. Much the same is true of alumni of a particular school, to veterans of military service, and to other groups. Discussing such memories is a common way of bonding. Some shibboleths - Scheveningen: Dutch people pronounce this word beginning with separate "s" s and "ch" x; a German would pronounce sch as IPA . The Dutch Resistance used this to ferret out Nazi spies during World War II.
- Ripley/ripply: If any distinction is made between the two words by a native speaker (rip-lee vs. rip-ul-ee), one will almost certainly not be made by a native speaker of Japanese. Either pronunciation would be very difficult to say properly as the English distinction between the R and L sounds is not present in Japanese.
- Leghorn: Allegedly, this word was used as a shibboleth during a war between the Chinese and Japanese, since the Japanese pronounced it as 'reghorn' (not being able to pronounce l), and the Chinese as 'leghon' (not being able to say English r). In fact, both Japanese and Chinese only have one phoneme that is used for both English r and l; in Japanese, this phoneme is close to r; in Chinese it is l (Chinese has an r, but it is quite different from that of English).
- Hyryjyr: (IPA ) Finnish soldiers in World War II would use this as a password, as none but a true Finnish native speaker could properly say this word, which contains the Finnish front vowels , Y, and in combination with the rolled R used in Finnish.
- Yksi: There is a story about the Whites using "yksi" ("one") as a shibboleth in the Finnish Civil War. Communists were made to stand in line, and each one was asked to say "yksi". If the prisoner pronounced "juksi", he was a Russian foreign fighter and was shot.
- Kurri etsi jarrua murkkukasasta: "Kurri sought for a brake in the ant pile." The phoneme rolled R r in general is considered a "shibboleth" between normalcy and various types of speech defects. Small children usually learn the phoneme /r/ last, using /l/ instead. Older children can trick them to say "kulli etsi Jallua mulkkukasasta", "The cock sought for a Jallu (porn magazine) in a pile of dicks."
- Rdgrd med flde: This is the standard Danish shibboleth, which exposes the speaker's skill of pronouncing the Danish throat sounds.
- Fish and chips: Australians and New Zealanders sometimes tease each other on its pronunciation, usually as a joke. To Aussies, it sounds like Kiwis pronounce it "fush and chups", while Kiwis hear Aussies say "feesh and cheeps".
- The Spanish word perejil (parsley) was used as a shibboleth by Dominican Republic strongman Trujillo. See http://www.ling.upenn.edu/courses/Fall_2003/ling001/shibboleth.html.
- Scilt ende vriend: On May 18, 1302, the people of Bruges killed the French occupants during a nocturnal surprise attack. They asked every suspicious person to say "scilt ende vriend" (shield and friend). The Flemings pronounced "sk", the French "sh". That way they could easily find the French. This day is known as the Brugse Metten.
- H: in Northern Ireland pronounced 'aitch' by Protestants, 'haitch' by Catholics.
- Chuchichschtli with three ch x in Swiss German language.
- loch: Scottish people have been known to ask suspected English impersonators to say this (the Scottish word for a lake or fjord, which occurs in many placenames) since this includes the hard "ch" sound (voiceless velar fricative) not found in standard English. English people usually pronounce it "lock".
- In World War II, shared cultural knowledge (such as who won the last World Series) was used to detect infiltrators into U.S. forces.
- Z: Canadians and English-speaking Britons pronounce this as 'zed', Americans as 'zee'.
- Pin: Some people from the Southern United States pronounce pin the way other Americans would pronounce pen. Furthermore, some have difficulty hearing the difference between the two.
- Orange: Put as a test by Californians to distinguish natives from rustbelt immigrants, who tend to pronounce the initial vowel harshly and the entire word as a single syllable.
- syrup: Southerners in the United States usually pronounce this word 'surp' (as one syllable), other Americans pronounce it 'seer-up' (as two).
Humorous and fictional shibboleths - Unionized: Isaac Asimov introduced this shibboleth that distinguishes chemists from non-chemists. When reading this word aloud with no context, a chemist will pronounce it "un-ionized", whereas a non-chemist will pronounce it "union-ized".
- Coax: Information technology professionals often pronounce this as "co-ax", short for "coaxial cable", instead of as the English word "coax".
- In his essay The Shibboleth of Fanor, Tolkien describes how the Noldor elves change the sound th (IPA ) to s in the Quenya language. Strife occurs when the king's second wife adopts the name Indis (with an s) to emphasize her acceptance of Noldorin culture; however, king's son Fanor considered this change to be an insult to his dead mother Therind who had refused to be called Serind.
Computer Security The general concept of Shibboleth is to test something, and based on that response to take a particular course of action. This principle is used in computer security. The most commonly seen usage of this is logging on to your computer with a password. If you enter the correct password you can log on to your computer, if you enter an incorrect password, you can go no further. There are various classes of computer security-related Shibboleth. - Class 1: Something you know; perhaps a password or another fact.
- Class 2: Something you have; a card or a physical tag of some kind.
- Class 3: Something you are; a biometric feature such as a fingerprint or an iris scan.
In the future, computer security is likely to combine various classes of Shibboleth, in order to be much more secure than the standard class 1 approach of today. See also
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