Semitic

Semitic is an adjective referring to the peoples who have traditionally spoken Semitic languages or to things pertaining to them. Genetic analysis suggests that the Semitic peoples share a significant common ancestry, despite important differences and contributions from other groups. This genetic commonality applies less in the Horn of Africa, however, where indigenous non-Middle Eastern populations may have adopted Semitic language(s) over time due to cultural influence from immigrants from Yemen. There is much debate about the scope of the word's "racial" use in the context of population genetics and history, but as a linguistic term it is well-defined, referring to a largely Middle Eastern family of languages — ancient and modern — including Amharic, Arabic, Aramaic, Assyrian (Syriac), Babylonian (Akkadian), Hebrew, Maltese, and Tigrigna. The Proto-Semitic peoples, ancestors of the Semites in the Middle East before the break-up of the hypothesized original (proto-)Semitic language into various modern Semitic languages, are thought to have been originally from the Arabian Peninsula.

Language

The modern linguistic meaning of "Semitic" is therefore derived from, but not identical to Biblical usage. In a linguistic context the Semitic languages are a subgroup of the larger Afro-Asiatic language family (according to Greenberg's widely accepted classification) and include, among others, Akkadian, the ancient language of Babylon, Amharic, the official language of Ethiopia, Arabic, the largest contemporary Semitic language, Aramaic, the mother-tongue of Jesus, Canaanite, Ge'ez, the ancient language of the Ethiopian Coptic scriptures, Hebrew, Phoenician or Punic, and South Arabian, the ancient language of Sheba/Saba, which today includes Mehri, spoken by only tiny minorities on the southern part of the Arabian Peninsula.

Related Topics:
Semitic languages - Afro-Asiatic - Greenberg - Akkadian - Amharic - Arabic - Aramaic - Canaanite - Ge'ez - Hebrew - Phoenician - Punic - South Arabian - Sheba - Mehri

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Wildly successful as second languages far beyond their numbers of contemporary first-language speakers, a few Semitic languages today are the base of the sacred literature of some of the world's great religions, including Christianity (Aramaic and Ge'ez), Islam (Arabic), and Judaism (Hebrew). Millions learn these as a second language (or archaic version of their modern tongues): a billion Muslims learn to read and recite Classical Arabic, the language of the Qur'an, and Jews all over the world outside of Israel with other first languages speak and study Hebrew, the language of the Torah, Midrash, and other Jewish scriptures.

Related Topics:
Christianity - Islam - Judaism - Muslim - Classical Arabic - Qur'an - Jews - Israel - Torah - Midrash

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It should be noted that Berber, Coptic, Ancient Egyptian, Hausa, Somali, and many other related languages within the wider area of Northern Africa and the Middle East do not belong to the Semitic subgroup, but to the larger Afro-Asiatic language family. Other Middle Eastern languages — Armenian, Kurdish, Nubian, Persian/Farsi, ancient Sumerian, and Turkish — do not even belong to the larger Afro-Asiatic language family and are totally unrelated.

Related Topics:
Berber - Coptic - Ancient Egyptian - Hausa - Somali - Afro-Asiatic - Armenian - Kurdish - Nubian - Persian/Farsi - Sumerian - Turkish

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For a complete list of Semitic and Afro-Asiatic languages, see the .

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