Shibboleth

Shibboleth (properly Shibboleth, Heb., 'ear of corn,' or 'stream'), the test-word used by the Gileadites under Jephthah after their victory over the Ephraimites, recorded in Judges, xii. 6. The latter could not pronounce the sh, and, by saying sibboleth, betrayed themselves, and were slaughtered at the ford. All those Hebrew names in the Old Testament which commence with the sh have now, through the inability of the Septuagint to render this sound in Greek, become familiar to us, through the versions that flowed from it, as beginning with the simple s—e.g. Simon, Samaria, Solomon, Saul, &c. The word Shibboleth is still used to mean a test of opinions and manners.