Shibboleth

Posted by Tom Joad on Nov 29, 2007 | 3 comments

A shorter description today but I think an interesting one. The word shibboleth is of Hebrew origin and means “stream” or (more usually) “a plant containing grain”, such as corn or wheat. The word was originally very powerful, as it was used – according to a biblical story – by one Jephthah (catchy name) who was leader of a semitic tribe called the Gileadites to distinguish his enemies. The Gileadites had a bit of a fight with another tribe, the Ephraimites. Victorious in battle, they set up a blockade to catch their fleeing foes. I’m just guessing here but I imagine one semitic tribesman looked very much like another and it was difficult to know who the bad guys were. The one noticeable difference was that the Ephraimites lacked the sh sound in their language. They would stop a man at the blockade and make him say shibboleth – if he instead said ‘sibboleth’ he was in for a very bad day indeed. Here’s the passage in full:

“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 Jordan: and there fell at that time of the Ephraimites forty and two thousand.”

So a shibboleth is something of a linguistic password. It has also come to be used in a broader sense, to encompass modes of dress, rituals, customs and even jokes which mark a person as belonging to a particular section of society. If you’ve ever overheard two estate agents talking, you’ll already know the effect of shibboleths.

There is also a story in which the American army would use the word ‘Lollapalooza’ to tell if anyone Japanese was trying to enter their camps They imagined that it would be pronounced ‘Rorraparooza’ because of the perceived Japanese inability to correctly form a western ‘L’. For me, the dark hair and distinctly oriental eyes may have just given it away, but I’m no expert in the art of war.

And the reason I decided to write about shibboleth? Because there is a new installation in the Tate Modern gallery in London. It’s called ‘Shibboleth’ and is by a Columbian artist by the name of Doris Salcedo. I’m not a great art critic, so you’ll have to believe me when I tell you it is a bloody great big crack in the floor. It’s 167m long and quite apart from being ‘art’, it’s also gaining notoriety as a health and safety hazard. Apparently, those going to see it have been tripping over it or stepping into it at quite an alarming rate. Quite how, when they are supposed to be looking at it, I don’t know. With litigation culture rife in the UK, she could cost the Tate a fortune. Why is it there? It symbolizes racial hatred and oppression in society. Hmmm…