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Shibboleth
   river, or an ear of corn. The tribes living on the east of
   Jordan, separated from their brethren on the west by the deep
   ravines and the rapid river, gradually came to adopt peculiar
   customs, and from mixing largely with the Moabites, Ishmaelites,
   and Ammonites to pronounce certain letters in such a manner as
   to distinguish them from the other tribes. Thus when the
   Ephraimites from the west invaded Gilead, and were defeated by
   the Gileadites under the leadership of Jephthah, and tried to
   escape by the "passages of the Jordan," the Gileadites seized
   the fords and would allow none to pass who could not pronounce
   "shibboleth" with a strong aspirate. This the fugitives were
   unable to do. They said "sibboleth," as the word was pronounced
   by the tribes on the west, and thus they were detected (Judg.
   12:1-6). Forty-two thousand were thus detected, and
   
     "Without reprieve, adjudged to death,
   
     For want of well-pronouncing shibboleth."
   

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