sotah

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Hebrew סוֹטָה (“adulteress”)

Noun

sotah (uncountable)

1. (Judaism) An ordeal of a woman drinking priest-cursed bitter liquid to determine if she has committed adultery.
   • 2001, David L. Lieber, Jules Harlow, Etz Hayim: Torah and Commentary, page 796:

     The ordeal of the sotah worked only in an age when people believed in its power to expose the guilty and exonerate the innocent.