Shem
/ʃɛm/noun
Shem is the biblical eldest son of Noah and the traditional ancestor of several peoples of the ancient Near East.
Did you know?The linguistic label “Semitic,” coined in the eighteenth century, was formed from Shem’s name, even though modern historical linguistics classifies languages by evidence rather than biblical genealogy.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Semitic
Proto-Semitic
*šim-
“Name; designation or reputation”
Ancient Hebrew
Hebrew
שֵׁם (šēm)
“Name, reputation, or renown”
Biblical Hebrew
Hebrew
שֵׁם (Šēm)
“Shem, the personal name of Noah’s son in Genesis”
Ancient Greek
Greek
Σήμ (Sēm)
“Shem, as rendered in the Greek Bible”
Late Antiquity
Latin
Sem
“Shem, the biblical patriarch”
16th Century
English
Shem
“The biblical proper name adopted into English through biblical and Latin traditions”
Modern English
English
Shem
“The biblical son of Noah; the source of the name used in Semite and Semitic”