Shibboleth

An element characteristic of a specific race, class, or group of people. The word, etymologically, stems from a Hebrew word meaning “an ear of corn”, which, in the Bible, the men of Gilead used to distinguish Ephraimites, as they were unable to pronounce it in their native dialect. For Rosa Coldfield of //Absalom, Absalom!,// the shibboleth used in distinguishing black and white is, naturally, the color of the skin, a shibboleth that is broken when Clytie touches her.

“Then they said unto him, Say now Shibboleth: and he said Sibboleth, for he could not frame to pronounce it right.” -King James Bible, Book of Judges 12:6

“But let flesh touch with flesh, and watch the fall of all the eggshell shibboleth of caste and color too” -AA! (112)