Semitic
/səˈmɪtɪk/noun
Relating to the family of languages that includes Arabic, Hebrew, Amharic, and others, or to the peoples who speak them.
Did you know?“Semitic” was created by 18th-century scholars from the biblical name Shem, so its power comes from genealogy and classification, not from an ancient native self-name.
Etymological Timeline
Biblical Hebrew
Hebrew
Šēm
“Shem, a son of Noah in the Hebrew Bible”
Late 18th Century
German
semitisch
“A scholarly term for languages thought to descend from Shem”
Late 18th Century
French
sémitique
“Used in comparative linguistics for the language family”
Early 19th Century
English
Semitic
“Pertaining to the Semitic languages and peoples”
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