Re: P- and Q-Celtic (was Re: Reasonable sound changes.)
| From: | Steven Williams <feurieaux@...> |
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| Date: | Tuesday, January 11, 2005, 23:14 |
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--- Rodlox <Rodlox@...> wrote:
> if I may ask...what is a /shibboleth/ ?
It's a biblical thing; I forgot which book of the
Bible, but it's in the old Testament and probably in
the first five books (Numbers, maybe?). Basically, two
armies were fighting, and the two peoples spoke the
same language, so they used the word /shibboleth/
('small stream' or something like that) to tell
whether the person was a friend or foe.
Friends would pronounce it something like /shibboleth/
and foes /sibbolet/. A very interesting aside.
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