Semitic
Hebrew language family
Semitic describes a family of languages including Hebrew, Arabic, and Aramaic, or the peoples who historically spoke them.
The term comes from Shem, Noah's eldest son in the Bible, considered ancestor to these groups.
In compounds like anti-Semitic, Semitic refers specifically to Jews, though the linguistic family encompasses many Middle Eastern and North African peoples.
Semitic language family member
- HebrewSemitic language of Israel
- AramaicAncient Semitic language
- AmharicEthiopian national language
- AkkadianAncient Semitic Mesopotamian language
Phoenician · Maltese · Ethiopic · Canaanite · Moabite · Punic · consonantal · trilateral
Arabic
Semitic language family member
Akkadian · Phoenician · Maltese · Ethiopic · Canaanite · Moabite · Punic · consonantal · trilateral · root
Mesopotamia
Tigris-Euphrates river region
- LevantEastern Mediterranean coastal region
- Fertile CrescentMideast arc where civilization began
- BabylonAncient Mesopotamian capital
Assyria · Canaan · Judaic · Islamic · monotheism · cuneiform · alphabet · Torah · Quran · Talmud
Arab
Semitic ethnic group member
Eritrean · Yemeni · Chaldean · Samaritan · Druze · Bedouin · Sephardic
- Afroasiatic LanguagesArabic, Hebrew, Amharic, Somali, Berber
- Language familiesIndo-European, Afro-Asiatic, Sino-Tibetan, Austronesian, Dravidian
- languagesEnglish, Arabic, Chinese, German, French
- African LanguagesSwahili, Zulu, Yoruba, Xhosa, Amharic
- PhoeniciaTyre, Phoenicians, Carthage, Tyrian purple, cedar wood
- word originsetymology, word origins, word origin, word history, word roots
SemiticIndo-European
Vast language family
Aryan · Sino-Tibetan · Indo-Aryan · Germanic · Dravidian
- Northwest SemiticAncient Levantine language branch