Shibboleth—A Criticism.
By M. B. Lichtenstein
“Then said they unto him, Say, Shibboleth; and he said, Sibboleth.” THESE words are found in Judges 12:6. When the Ephraimites wanted to cross the passage of Jordan, the Gileadites required them to pronounce the word Shibboleth before them. This was to test their nationality. If they could say, Shibboleth, they were Gileadites; if Sibboleth, they were Ephraimites. The query arises in the minds of the Bible-reader, why the Ephraimites could not sound the sh as well as the Gileadites, but always had to sound s instead. Gilead was the grandson of Manasseh. Manasseh and Ephraim were the sons of Joseph; Manasseh, the elder, and Ephraim, the younger. The language used in Egypt at that time was undoubtedly the old Egyptian language, which is the root of the Coptic. The Coptic language is a cognate of the Greek as the Chaldaic is of the Hebrew. Hence we can easily conclude that the language spoken in Egypt at that time was similar to the old Greek. And now we come to the cause of the distinction between Shibboleth and Sibboleth. Prof. Crosby, in the History of Greek Orthography, in his grammar states that “the letter sampi, which answers to the English sh, fell into disuse.” Hence the sound of sh was lost. This might have taken place between the childhood of Manasseh and the childhood of Ephraim. While it was in use during the childhood of the elder, it might have been out of use during the childhood of the younger; hence Manasseh retained the sh, while Ephraim lost it.