14th century BC diplomatic letter in Akkadian, found in Tell Amarna.

The Semitic languages are a family of languages spoken by more than 370 million people across much of the Middle East, where they probably originated, and North and East Africa. They constitute the northeastern subfamily of the Afro-Asiatic languages, and the only branch of this group spoken in Asia. Image File history File links Amarna_Akkadian_letter. ... Image File history File links Amarna_Akkadian_letter. ... The Amarna letters is the name popularly given to an archive of correspondence, mostly diplomatic, found at Amarna, the modern name for the capital of the Egyptian New Kingdom primarily from the reign of pharaoh Amenhotep IV, better known as Akhenaten (1369 - 1353 BCE). ... Akkadian (lišānum akkadītum) was a Semitic language (part of the greater Afro-Asiatic language famaily) spoken in ancient Mesopotamia, particularly by the Assyrians and Babylonians. ... Amarna (commonly known as el-Amarna) is the name given to an extensive archaeological site that represents the remains of the capital city built by the Pharaoh Akhenaten of the late Eighteenth Dynasty (c. ... A map showing countries commonly considered to be part of the Middle East The Middle East is a region comprising the lands around the southern and eastern parts of the Mediterranean Sea, a territory that extends from the eastern Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf. ... North Africa is a region generally considered to include: Algeria Egypt Libya Mauritania Morocco Sudan Tunisia Western Sahara The Azores, Canary Islands, and Madeira are sometimes considered to be a part of North Africa. ... East Africa is a region generally considered to include: Djibouti Eritrea Ethiopia Kenya Somalia Tanzania Uganda Burundi, Rwanda, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, and Sudan are sometimes considered a part of East Africa. ... Map showing the distribution of Afro-Asiatic languages The Afro-Asiatic languages are a language family of about 240 languages and 285 million people widespread throughout North Africa, East Africa, the Sahel, and Southwest Asia. ... World map showing Asia. ...

The most widely spoken Semitic language today is Arabic (206 million speakers), followed by Amharic (17 million speakers), Hebrew (6 million speakers) , and Tigrinya (5.1 million speakers). Semitic languages were among the earliest to attain a written form, with Akkadian writing beginning in the middle of the third millennium BC. The term "Semitic" for these languages, after Shem son of Noah, is etymologically a misnomer in some ways (see Semitic), but is nonetheless standard. Arabic (; , less formally, ) is the largest member of the Semitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family (classification: South Central Semitic) and is closely related to Hebrew and Aramaic. ... Amharic (አማርኛ ’amarñña) is a Semitic language spoken in North Central Ethiopia. ... Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afro-Asiatic language family spoken by more than 7 million people, mainly in Israel, the West Bank, the United States and by Jewish communities around the world. ... Tigrigna (or ትግሪኛ) is a Semitic language spoken in Eritrea, where it is the official language, and in parts of Ethiopia and Israel. ... Akkadian (lišānum akkadÄ«tum) was a Semitic language (part of the greater Afro-Asiatic language famaily) spoken in ancient Mesopotamia, particularly by the Assyrians and Babylonians. ... Shem (שֵׁם renown; prosperity; name, Standard Hebrew Å em, Tiberian Hebrew Å Ä“m; Greek Σημ, SÄ“m) was one of the sons of Noah in the Bible. ... Noah or Nóach (circa 2104 BCE according to the chronology of the Hebrew Bible/Tanakh) (Rest, Standard Hebrew נוֹחַ (Nóaḥ), Tiberian Hebrew (); Arabic نوح ()), is a Biblical figure who, according to Genesis, built an ark to save his family and each species of the worlds animals from the Deluge... Etymology is the study of the origins of words. ... Look up Misnomer in Wiktionary, the free dictionary A misnomer is a misleading name for a thing. ... Semitic is a linguistic term referring to a subdivision of largely Middle Eastern Afro-Asiatic languages, the Semitic languages, as well as their speakers corresponding cultures, and ethnicities. ...

History

Origins

12th century Hebrew Bible script

Since Semitic is a member of Afro-Asiatic, a principally African family, the first speakers of Proto-Semitic are generally believed to have arrived in the Middle East from Africa, in the 4th millennium BC, although this question is still much debated. Within recorded history, the spread of Semitic languages has consisted largely of a series of migrations from Arabia, overwhelming the populations of more fertile areas. When records begin in the mid 3rd millennium BC, the Semitic-speaking Akkadians and Amorites were entering Mesopotamia from the deserts to the west, and were probably already present in places such as Ebla in Syria. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (946x1102, 141 KB)The Schøyen Collection MS 206, Oslo and London. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (946x1102, 141 KB)The Schøyen Collection MS 206, Oslo and London. ... 11th century manuscript of the Hebrew Bible with Targum This article discusses usage of the term Hebrew Bible. For the article on the Hebrew Bible itself, see Tanakh. ... Proto-Semitic is the hypothetical proto-language of the Semitic languages. ... Africa is the worlds second-largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. ... (5th millennium BC – 4th millennium BC – 3rd millennium BC - other millennia) // Events Sumerian city of Ur in Mesopotamia (40th century BC); Sumerian hegemony in Mesopotamia, with the invention of writing, base-60 mathematics, astronomy and astrology, civil law, complex hydrology, the sailboat, the wheel, and the potters wheel, 4000... (4th millennium BC – 3rd millennium BC – 2nd millennium BC – other millennia) // Events The 3rd millennium BC represents the beginning of factual history, since it is the first time we do have real names to name and detailed stories to tell. ... Akkad (or Agade) was a city and its region of northern Mesopotamia, situated on the left bank of the Euphrates, between Sippar and Kish (located in present-day Iraq, ca. ... Amorite (Hebrew ’emōrî, Egyptian Amar, Akkadian Tidnum or Amurrūm (corresponding to Sumerian MAR.TU or Martu) refers to a Semitic people who occupied the country west of the Euphrates, from the second half of the third millennium BC and also appear in the Tanakh and also the god... Sumerian list of gods in cuneiform script, ca. ... Ebla was an ancient city located in northern Syria, about 55 km southwest of Aleppo. ...

2nd millennium BC

By the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC, East Semitic languages dominated in Mesopotamia, while West Semitic languages were probably spoken from Syria to Yemen, although data is sparse. Akkadian had become the dominant literary language of the Fertile Crescent, using the cuneiform script they adapted from the Sumerians, while the sparsely attested Eblaite disappeared with the city, and Amorite is attested only from proper names. (3rd millennium BC – 2nd millennium BC – 1st millennium BC – other millennia) // Events To grasp the spirit of the 2nd millennium BC, we must divide it in two parts, for there is a period of change around its middle so important that it creates two separate sub-millennia. First half (2000... Akkadian (lišānum akkadītum) was a Semitic language (part of the greater Afro-Asiatic language famaily) spoken in ancient Mesopotamia, particularly by the Assyrians and Babylonians. ... The Fertile Crescent is a region in the Middle East incorporating present-day Israel, West Bank, and Lebanon and parts of Jordan, Syria, Iraq and south-eastern Turkey. ... The Cuneiform script is one of the earliest known forms of written expression. ... Sumer (or Shumer, Egyptian Sangar, Bib. ... Eblaite is an extinct East Semitic language which was spoken in the 3rd millennium BC in the ancient city Ebla, in modern Syria. ... The Amorite language is the term used for the early (North-)West Semitic language, spoken by the north Semitic Amorite tribes prominent in early Middle Eastern history. ...

For the 2nd millennium, somewhat more data is available, thanks to the spread of an invention first used to capture the sounds of Semitic languages - the alphabet. Proto-Canaanite texts from around 1500 BC yield the first undisputed attestations of a West Semitic language (although earlier testimonies are possibly preserved in Middle Bronze Age alphabets), followed by the much more extensive Ugaritic tablets of northern Syria from around 1300 BC. Incursions of nomadic Aramaeans from the Syrian desert begin around this time. Akkadian continued to flourish, splitting into Babylonian and Assyrian dialects. An alphabet is a complete standardized set of letters — basic written symbols — each of which roughly represents a phoneme of a spoken language, either as it exists now or as it may have been in the past. ... Drawing of the 16 and 12 characters Wadi el-Hol inscriptions The Proto-Canaanite (also Proto-Sinaitic) alphabet is identified as the prototype of the Semitic alphabets that, mostly via the successful Phoenician alphabet became the ancestor of most scripts in use today. ... Two similar but undeciphered scripts believed to be ancestral to all modern alphabets are attested from the Middle Bronze Age (2000-1500 BCE): the Proto-Sinaitic script discovered in the winter of 1904-1905 by William Flinders Petrie, and dated to 1500 BCE, and the Wadi el-Ħôl (or Wadi... The Ugaritic language is known to us only in the form of writings found in the lost city of Ugarit since its discovery by French archaeologists in 1928. ... The Arameans or Aramaeans (also called Syriacs) were a Semitic, nomadic people who dwelt in Aram-Naharaim or Aram of the two rivers, also known as Mesopotamia a region including modern Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Iran that is mentioned six times in the Hebrew Bible. ... Babylonia, named for the city of Babylon, was an ancient state in Mesopotamia (in modern Iraq), combining the territories of Sumer and Akkad. ... Assyria in earliest historical times referred to a region on the Upper Tigris river, named for its original capital, the ancient city of Ashur. ...

1st millennium BC

9th century Syriac manuscript

In the 1st millennium BC, the alphabet spread much further, giving us a picture not just of Canaanite but also of Aramaic, and Old South Arabian. During this period, the case system, still vigorous in Ugaritic, seems to have started decaying in Northwest Semitic. Phoenician colonies spread their Canaanite language throughout much of the Mediterranean, while its close relative Hebrew became the vehicle of a religious literature, the Torah and Tanakh, that would have global ramifications. However, as an ironic result of the Assyrian Empire's conquests, Aramaic became the lingua franca of the Fertile Crescent, gradually pushing Akkadian, Hebrew, Phoenician, and several other languages to extinction, and developing a substantial literature. Meanwhile, the first evidence of Ge'ez, spoken in Ethiopia (and still the liturgical language), are from this era. Download high resolution version (594x992, 126 KB)The Schøyen Collection MS 574, Oslo and London. ... Download high resolution version (594x992, 126 KB)The Schøyen Collection MS 574, Oslo and London. ... Syriac is an Eastern Aramaic language that was once spoken across much of the Fertile Crescent. ... (2nd millennium BC – 1st millennium BC – 1st millennium – other millennia) // Events The turn of the 1st millenium BC introduced a deep change in civilization throughout the ancient world. ... The Canaanite languages are a subfamily of the Semitic languages, spoken by the ancient peoples of the Canaan region, including Canaanites, Hebrews, Phoenicians, and eventually Philistines. ... Aramaic is a Semitic language with a 3,000-year history. ... The South Arabian alphabet branched from the Proto-Sinaitic alphabet in ca. ... Phoenician was a language originally spoken in the coastal region of what is now Lebanon. ... Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afro-Asiatic language family spoken by more than 7 million people, mainly in Israel, the West Bank, the United States and by Jewish communities around the world. ... Torah (תורה) is a Hebrew word meaning teaching, instruction, or law. ... 11th century Targum Tanakh [תנ״ך] (also Tanach or Tenach) is an acronym that identifies the Hebrew Bible. ... Assyria in earliest historical times referred to a region on the Upper Tigris river, named for its original capital, the ancient city of Ashur. ... Aramaic is a Semitic language with a 3,000-year history. ... Lingua franca, literally Frankish language in Italian, was originally a mixed language consisting largely of Italian plus a vocabulary drawn from Turkish, Persian, French, Greek and Arabic and used for communication throughout the Middle East. ... Geez (also spelt Giiz, translitered Gə‘əz, and pronounced ) is an ancient language that developed in the Ethiopian Highlands of the Horn of Africa as the language of the peasantry. ... A sacred language is a language, frequently a dead language, that is cultivated for religious reasons by people who speak another language in their daily life. ...

Common Era

Page of a 12th century Qur'an

Syriac rose to importance as a literary language of early Christianity in the 3rd to 5th centuries. Download high resolution version (576x672, 265 KB)12th century Quran page, from http://faculty. ... Download high resolution version (576x672, 265 KB)12th century Quran page, from http://faculty. ... (11th century - 12th century - 13th century - other centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 12th century was that century which lasted from 1101 to 1200. ... The Quran (Arabic , literally the recitation; also called or The Noble Quran; also transliterated Quran, Koran, and less commonly Alcoran) is the holy book of Islam. ... Syriac is an Eastern Aramaic language that was once spoken across much of the Fertile Crescent. ... Christianity is a monotheistic religion that recognizes Jesus Christ as its central figure, Lord and Messiah. ...

With the emergence of Islam, the ascent of Aramaic was dealt a fatal blow by the Arab conquests, which made another Semitic language — Arabic — the official language of an empire stretching from Morocco to Pakistan. With the patronage of the caliphs and the prestige of its liturgical status, it rapidly became one of the world's main literary languages. Its spread among the masses took much longer; however, as natives abandoned their tongues for Arabic and as Bedouin tribes settled in conquered areas, it became the language of not only central Arabia, but also Yemen, the Fertile Crescent, and Egypt. Most of the Maghreb followed, particularly in the wake of the Banu Hilal's incursion in the 11th century, and Arabic became the native language even of many inhabitants of Spain. After the collapse of the Nubian kingdom of Dongola in the 14th century, Arabic began to spread south of Egypt; soon after, the Beni Hassan brought Arabization to Mauritania. The spread of Arabic continues even today in Sudan and Chad, both by peaceful sociolinguistic processes, and by wars such as the Darfur conflict. â–¶ (help· info) (Arabic: الإسلام; al- islām, the submission to God) is a monotheistic faith, one of the Abrahamic religions and the worlds second-largest religion. ... The Arabs (Arabic: عرب Ê»arab) are a large and heterogenous ethnic group found throughout the Middle East and North Africa, originating in the Arabian Peninsula of southwest Asia. ... Arabic (; , less formally, ) is the largest member of the Semitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family (classification: South Central Semitic) and is closely related to Hebrew and Aramaic. ... Caliph is the term or title for the Islamic leader of the Ummah, or community of Islam. ... A sacred language is a language, frequently a dead language, that is cultivated for religious reasons by people who speak another language in their daily life. ... Bedouin resting at Mount Sinai Bedouin, derived from the Arabic badawi بدوي, a generic name for a desert-dweller, is a term generally applied to Arab nomadic groups, who are found throughout most of the desert belt extending from the Atlantic coast of the Sahara via the Western Desert, Sinai, and... The Maghreb (المغرب العربي ; sometimes also rendered Moghreb), meaning western in Arabic, is the region of the continent of Africa north of the Sahara desert and west of the Nile — specifically, the modern countries of Morocco, Western Sahara (annexed and occupied by Morocco), Algeria, Tunisia, Libya — and to a much lesser extent... The Banu Hilal were an Arab tribe that migrated from Arabia into North Africa in the 11th century, having been sent by the Fatimids to punish the Zirids for abandoning Shiism. ... Today Nubia is the region in the south of Egypt, along the Nile and in northern Sudan, but in ancient times it was an independent kingdom. ... Dongola (also spelled Dunqulah or Dunqula and formerly sometimes known as Al Urdi) is the capital of the state of Northern in Sudan, on the banks of the Nile. ... Beni Hasan (or Bani Hasan, or also Beni-Hassan) is a village in Middle Egypt about 25 km south of Al Minya (or Minieh), on the east bank of the Nile, with remarkable catacombs that have been excavated. ... Arabization is the gradual transformation of an area into one that speaks Arabic and is part of the Arab culture. ... Sociolinguistics is the study of the effect of any and all aspects of society, including cultural norms, expectations, and context, on the way language is used. ... The country of Sudan The Darfur conflict is an ongoing conflict in the Darfur region of western Sudan, mainly between the Janjaweed, a government-supported militia recruited from local Arab tribes, and the non-Arab peoples of the region. ...

Meanwhile, Semitic languages were diversifying in Ethiopia and Eritrea, where, under heavy Cushitic influence, they split into a number of languages, including Amharic and Tigrinya. With the expansion of Ethiopia under the Solomonid dynasty, Amharic, previously a minor local language, spread throughout much of the country, replacing languages both Semitic (such as Gafat) and non-Semitic (such as Weyto), and replacing Ge'ez as the principal literary language; this spread continues to this day, with Kemant set to disappear in another generation. The Cushitic languages are a subgroup of the Afro-Asiatic languages phylum, named after the Biblical figure Cush by analogy with Semitic. ... Amharic (አማርኛ ’amarñña) is a Semitic language spoken in North Central Ethiopia. ... Tigrigna (or ትግሪኛ) is a Semitic language spoken in Eritrea, where it is the official language, and in parts of Ethiopia and Israel. ... The Solomonid dynasty is the traditional royal house of Ethiopia, claming descent from King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, who is said to have given birth to the traditional first king Menelik I after her Biblically-described visit to Solomon in Jerusalem. ... The Gafat language is an extinct Semitic language that was once spoken along the Abbay River in Ethiopia. ... The Weyto language is believed to be an extinct language formerly spoken in the Lake Tana region of Ethiopia by a small group of hippopotamus hunters who now speak Amharic. ...

Present situation

Arabic is spoken natively by majorities from Mauritania to Oman, and from Iraq to the Sudan; as the language of the Qur'an and as a lingua franca, it is widely studied in much of the Muslim world as well. Its spoken form is divided into a number of dialects, some not mutually comprehensible, united by a single written form. Maltese, genetically a descendant of Arabic, is the principal exception, having adopted a Latin orthography in accordance with its cultural situation. The Quran (Arabic , literally the recitation; also called or The Noble Quran; also transliterated Quran, Koran, and less commonly Alcoran) is the holy book of Islam. ... The Islamic world is the world-wide community of all believers in Islam, who are known as Muslims, and who number approximately one-and-a-half billion people. ... The Arabic language is classified as a Semitic language. ...

Despite the ascendancy of Arabic in the Middle East, other Semitic languages are still to be found there. Hebrew, long extinct, was revived at the end of the 19th century by the Jewish linguist Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, owing to the ideology of Zionism, and has become the main language of Israel, while remaining the liturgical language of Jews worldwide. Several small ethnic groups, especially the Assyrians, continue to speak Aramaic in the mountains of northern Iraq, eastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, and Syria, while an older descendant of Aramaic, Syriac, is used liturgically by many Iraqi Christians. In Yemen and Oman, a few tribes continue to speak "Modern South Arabian" languages such as Soqotri, very different both from Arabic and from the languages of the Old South Arabian inscriptions. Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... The word Jew (Hebrew: יהודי transliterated: Yehudi) is used in many ways but generally refers to a follower of Judaism, a child of a Jewish mother, or someone of Jewish descent with a connection to Jewish culture or ethnicity; and often a combination of these attributes. ... The following is a list of linguists, those who study linguistics. ... Eliezer Ben-Yehuda (אליעזר בן־יהודה) (b. ... For other meanings, please see Zionism (disambiguation) Poster promoting a film about Jewish settlement in Palestine, 1930s: Toward a New Life (in Romanian),The Promised Land (in Hungarian) 1844 Discourse on the Restoration of the Jews by Mordecai Noah, page one. ... It has been suggested that Assyrian people be merged into this article or section. ... Syriac is an Eastern Aramaic language that was once spoken across much of the Fertile Crescent. ... Soqotri is the native language of the island of Socotra off the southern coast of Yemen. ...

Ethiopia and Eritrea contain a substantial number of Semitic languages, of which Amharic in Ethiopia, and Tigrigna in Ethiopia and Eritrea, are the most widely spoken. Both are official languages of their respective countries, while Ge'ez remains the liturgical language for Christians there. A number of Gurage languages are to be found in the mountainous center of Ethiopia, while Harari is restricted to the city of Harar; Tigre, spoken in the Eritrean highlands, has over a million speakers. Tigrigna (or ትግሪኛ) is a Semitic language spoken in Eritrea, where it is the official language, and in parts of Ethiopia and Israel. ... A sacred language is a language, frequently a dead language, that is cultivated for religious reasons by people who speak another language in their daily life. ... The Gurage are an ethnic group in Ethiopia. ... aman be dejqho ... Harar, sometimes spelled Harrar or Harer, is a city in Ethiopia situated in the eastern extension of the Ethiopian highlands, about five hundred kilometers from Addis Ababa. ... Tigre is a Semitic language descended from Geez and is closely related to Tigrinya and Amharic. ...

Grammar

The Semitic languages share a number of grammatical features, although variation has naturally occurred - even within the same language as it evolved through time, such as Arabic from the 6th century AD to the present.

Word order

The reconstructed default word order in Proto-Semitic is Verb Subject Object (VSO), possessed - possessor (NG), and noun - adjective (NA). In Classical and Modern Standard Arabic, this is still the dominant order: ra'ā muħammadun farīdan. (Muhammad saw Farid.) However, VSO has given way in most modern Semitic languages to typologically commoner orders (e.g. SVO); in many modern Arabic dialects, for example, the classical order VSO has given way to SVO. Modern Ethiopian Semitic languages are SOV, possessor - possessed, and adjective - noun, probably due to Cushitic influence; however, the oldest attested Ethiopian Semitic language, Geez, was VSO, possessed - possessor, and noun - adjective[1]. Verb Subject Object—commonly used in its abbreviated form VSO—is a term in linguistic typology. ... The Geez language (or Giiz language) is an ancient language that developed in the Ethiopian Highlands of the Horn of Africa as the language of the peasantry. ...

Cases in nouns and adjectives

The proto-Semitic three-case system (nominative, accusative and genitive) with differing vowel endings (-u, -a -i), fully preserved in Qur'anic Arabic (see i`rab), Akkadian, and Ugaritic, has disappeared everywhere in the many colloquial forms of Semitic languages, although Modern Standard Arabic maintains such case endings (somewhat artificially) in literary and broadcasting contexts. An accusative ending -n is preserved in Ethiopian Semitic. Additionally, Semitic nouns and adjectives had a category of state, the indefinite state being expressed by nunation.

Number in nouns

Semitic languages originally had three grammatical numbers: singular, dual, and plural. The dual continues to be used in Hebrew (šana means "one year", šnatayim means "two years", and šanim means "years") and contemporary dialects of Arabic, as in the name for the nation of Bahrain (baħr "sea" + -ayn "two"). The curious phenomenon of broken plurals - e.g. in Arabic, sadd "one dam" vs. sudūd "dams" - found most profusely in the languages of Arabia and Ethiopia, may be partly of proto-Semitic origin, and partly elaborated from simpler origins. In linguistics, broken plurals is a grammatical phenomenon typical in many Semitic languages of the Middle East and Ethiopia in which a singular noun is broken to form a plural by having its root consonant embedded in a different frame, rather than by merely adding a prefix or suffix to...

Verb aspect/tense

The aspect systems of West and East Semitic differ substantially; Akkadian preserves a number of features generally attributed to Afro-Asiatic, such as gemination indicating the imperfect, while a stative form, still maintained in Akkadian, became a new perfect in West Semitic. Proto-West Semitic maintained two main verb aspects: perfect for completed action (with pronominal suffixes) and imperfect for uncompleted action (with pronominal prefixes and suffixes). In the extreme case of Neo-Aramaic, however, even the verb conjugations have been entirely reworked under Iranian influence.

Morphology: triliteral roots

All Semitic languages exhibit a unique pattern of stems consisting of "triliteral" or consonantal roots (normally consisting of three consonants), from which nouns, adjectives, and verbs are formed by inserting vowels with, potentially, prefixes, suffixes, or infixes (consonants inserted within the original root).

For instance, the root K-T-B, "write", yields in Arabic:

kataba means "he wrote"

kutiba means "it was written"

kitāb means "book"

kutub means "books"

kitāba means "writing"

kātib means "writer"

kuttāb means "writers"

maktab means "desk"

maktaba means "library"

maktūb means "written"

and in Hebrew (where it appears as K-T-V):

katav means "he wrote"

katvu means "they wrote"

katava means "article"

miktav means "postal letter"

ktav means "writing"

ktovet means "address"

miktava means "writing desk"

kotev means "he writes"

katuv means "written"

This root survives in Amharic only in the noun kitab, meaning "amulet", and the verb "to vaccinate". Ethiopic-derived languages use a completely different root (T'-H-F) for the verb "to write".

Some such roots are found throughout most Semitic languages, while others are more restricted in their distribution.

Verbs in other Afro-Asiatic languages show similar radical patterns, but more usually with biconsonantal roots; e.g. Kabyle afeg means "fly!", while affug means "flight", and yufeg means "he flew". Kabyle is a Berber language (Kabyle taqbaylit, pronounced thaqvayleeth) spoken by the Kabyle people. ...

Common vocabulary

Main article: List of Proto-Semitic stems.

Due to the Semitic languages' common origin, they share many words and roots in common. For example: It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Proto-Semitic. ...

Sometimes certain roots differ in meaning from one Semitic language to another. For example, the root b-y-ḍ in Arabic has the meaning of "white" as well as "egg", whereas in Hebrew it only means "egg". The root l-b-n means "milk" in Arabic, but the color "white" in Hebrew. The root l-ḥ-m means "meat" in Arabic, but "bread" in Hebrew; the original meaning in both languages was most probably "food". The word medina has the meaning of "city" in Arabic, and "metropolis" in Amharic, but in Hebrew it means "state". Akkadian (lišānum akkadÄ«tum) was a Semitic language (part of the greater Afro-Asiatic language famaily) spoken in ancient Mesopotamia, particularly by the Assyrians and Babylonians. ... Aramaic is a Semitic language with a four-thousand year history. ... Arabic (; , less formally, ) is the largest member of the Semitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family (classification: South Central Semitic) and is closely related to Hebrew and Aramaic. ... Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afro-Asiatic language family spoken by more than 7 million people, mainly in Israel, the West Bank, the United States and by Jewish communities around the world. ...

Of course, there is sometimes no relation between the roots. For example, "knowledge" is represented in Hebrew by the root y-d-ʿ but in Arabic by the roots ʿ-r-f and ʿ-l-m and in Amharic by the root `-w-q.

Classification

The classification given below, based on shared innovations - established by Robert Hetzron in 1976 with later emendations by John Huehnergard and Rodgers as summarized in Hetzron 1997 - is the most widely accepted today, but is still disputed. In particular, several Semitists still argue for the traditional view of Arabic as part of South Semitic, and a few (e.g. Alexander Militarev) see the South Arabian languages as a third branch of Semitic alongside East and West Semitic, rather than as a subgroup of South Semitic. At a lower level, there is still no general agreement on where to draw the line between "languages" and "dialects" - an issue particularly relevant in Arabic, Aramaic, and Gurage below - and the strong mutual influences between Arabic dialects render a genetic subclassification of them particularly difficult. It is widely recognised in Ethiopia that Amharic inherited its basic vocabulary directly from Giiz, in which case it belongs in Ethiopic rather than North Ethiopic. Robert Hetzron (1937 – 1997) was a linguist who specialized in Afroasiatic languages and whose work embraced comparative studies, semantic analysis and theoretical aspects of grammar. ...

The traditional grouping of the Semitic languages (prior to the 1970s), based partly on non-linguistic data, differs in several respects; in particular, Arabic was put in South Semitic, and Eblaite had not been discovered yet.

East Semitic languages

• Akkadian language -- extinct
• Eblaite language -- extinct

Akkadian (lišānum akkadītum) was a Semitic language (part of the greater Afro-Asiatic language famaily) spoken in ancient Mesopotamia, particularly by the Assyrians and Babylonians. ... Eblaite is an extinct East Semitic language which was spoken in the 3rd millennium BC in the ancient city Ebla, in modern Syria. ...

West Semitic Languages

Central Semitic languages

Northwest Semitic languages

• Amorite language -- extinct
• Ugaritic language -- extinct
• Canaanite languages
  • Ammonite language -- extinct
  • Moabite language -- extinct
  • Edomite language -- extinct
  • Hebrew languages
    • Biblical Hebrew language -- extinct
    • Mishnaic Hebrew language -- extinct
    • Medieval Hebrew language -- extinct
    • Mizrahi Hebrew language -- live descendants
    • Sephardi Hebrew language -- live descendants
    • Ashkenazi Hebrew language -- live descendants
    • Samaritan Hebrew language -- extinct
    • Modern Hebrew -- live descendants
  • Phoenician language -- extinct
    • Punic -- extinct
• Aramaic languages
  • Western Aramaic languages
    • Nabataean Aramaic language -— extinct
    • Western Middle Aramaic languages
      • Jewish Middle Palestinian Aramaic language -— extinct
      • Samaritan Aramaic language -— extinct
      • Christian Palestinian Aramaic language - extinct
    • Western Neo-Aramaic language -- live descendants
  • Eastern Aramaic languages
    • Biblical Aramaic language -- extinct
    • Hatran Aramaic language -- extinct
    • Syriac language -- extinct
    • Jewish Middle Babylonian Aramaic language -- extinct
    • Chaldean Neo-Aramaic language -- live descendants
    • Assyrian Neo-Aramaic language -- live descendants
    • Senaya language -- live descendants
    • Koy Sanjaq Surat -- live descendants
    • Hertevin language -- live descendants
    • Turoyo language -- live descendants
    • Mlahso language -- extinct
    • Mandaic language -- live descendants
    • Judæo-Aramaic language -- extinct

The Amorite language is the term used for the early (North-)West Semitic language, spoken by the north Semitic Amorite tribes prominent in early Middle Eastern history. ... The Ugaritic language is known to us only in the form of writings found in the lost city of Ugarit since its discovery by French archaeologists in 1928. ... The Canaanite languages are a subfamily of the Semitic languages, spoken by the ancient peoples of the Canaan region, including Canaanites, Hebrews, Phoenicians, and eventually Philistines. ... The Ammonite language is the extinct Canaanite language of the Ammonite people mentioned in the Bible, who used to live in modern-day Jordan, and after whom its capital Amman is named. ... The Moabite language is an extinct Hebrew Canaanite dialect, spoken in Moab (modern-day northwestern Jordan) in the early first millennium BC. Most of our knowledge about Moabite comes from the Mesha Stele, as well as the El-Kerak Stela; this is sufficient to show that it was extremely similar... The Edomite language is the extinct Hebrew Canaanite language of the Edomites in southwestern Jordan in the first millennium BC. It is known only from a very small corpus. ... Hebrew language most commonly refers to Modern Hebrew; in historical contexts, it commonly refers to the Biblical Hebrew language. ... This article is in need of attention. ... The Mishnaic Hebrew language or Rabbinic Hebrew language is the ancient descendant of Biblical Hebrew as preserved by the Jews after the Babylonian captivity, and definitively recorded by Jewish sages in writing the Mishnah and other contemporary documents. ... The Mizrahi Hebrew language or Oriental hebrew language refers to any one of the dialects of Biblical Hebrew used liturgical by Mizrahi Jews, that is, Jews living in Arab countries or further east, and typically speaking Arabic, Persian, Hindi, Chinese, or other languages of the Middle East and Asia. ... The Sephardi Hebrew language is an offshoot of Biblical Hebrew favored for liturgical use by Sephardi Jewish practice. ... The Ashkenazi Hebrew language is a descendant of Biblical Hebrew favored for liturgical use by Ashkenazi Jewish practice. ... The Samaritan Hebrew language is a descendant of Biblical Hebrew as pronounced and written by the Samaritans. ... The Modern Hebrew language is a Semitic language of the Afro-Asiatic language family. ... Phoenician was a language originally spoken in the coastal region of what is now Lebanon. ... Punic (from Latin pÅ«nicus) was a Latin version of the term Phoenician. (After the Punic Wars, Romans used this term as an adjective meaning treacherous.) In archaeological and linguistic usage, it refers to the Greco-Roman era culture and dialect of Carthage and its empire as distinct from their... Aramaic is a Semitic language with a four-thousand year history. ... Western Neo-Aramaic is a Modern Aramaic language. ... Syriac is an Eastern Aramaic language that was once spoken across much of the Fertile Crescent. ... Chaldean Neo-Aramaic is a modern Eastern Aramaic or Syriac language. ... Assyrian Neo-Aramaic is a modern Eastern Aramaic or Syriac language. ... The Senaya language is a modern Eastern Aramaic or Syriac language. ... Koy Sanjaq Surat is a modern Eastern Aramaic or Syriac language. ... The Hértevin language is a modern Eastern Aramaic or Syriac language. ... Turoyo is a Modern West Syriac language, a dialect of Aramaic. ... Mlahsö is a Modern West Syriac language, a dialect of Aramaic. ... The Mandaic language is the liturgical language of the Mandaean religion; a vernacular form is still spoken by a small community in Iran around Ahwaz. ... Judæo-Aramaic is a collective term used to describe several Hebrew-influenced Aramaic and Neo-Aramaic languages. ...

Arabic languages

• Arabic language
  • Classical Arabic - the language of the Qur'an and early Islamic Arabic literature, extinct
  • Modern Standard Arabic - modern literary (non-native) language used in formal media throughout the Arab World
  • Numerous Modern Arabic spoken dialects, roughly divided by the Ethnologue into:
    • Eastern Arabic dialects
      • Arabian Peninsular dialects
        • Dhofari Arabic - Oman/Yemen
        • Hadrami Arabic - Yemen
        • Hijazi Arabic - Saudi Arabia
        • Najdi Arabic - Saudi Arabia
        • Omani Arabic
        • Sanaani Arabic - Yemen
        • Ta'izzi-Adeni Arabic - Yemen
        • Judeo-Yemeni Arabic
      • Bedouin/Bedawi Arabic dialects
        • Eastern Egyptian Bedawi Arabic
        • Peninsular Bedawi Arabic - Arabian Peninsula
      • Central Asian dialects
        • Tajiki Arabic
        • Uzbeki Arabic
      • Egyptian Arabic - Cairo and Delta region
      • Gulf dialects - includes speakers in Iran
        • Baharna Arabic - Bahrain
        • Gulf Arabic - Persian Gulf (all bordering countries)
        • Shihhi Arabic - UAE
      • Levantine Arabic dialects
        • Cypriot Maronite Arabic
        • North Levantine Spoken - Lebanon, Syria
          • Lebanese Arabic
        • South Levantine Spoken - Jordan, Palestinian Authority, West Bank, Israel
          • Palestinian Arabic
      • Iraqi Arabic - includes speakers in Iran
      • North Mesopotamian Arabic - Northern Iraq, Syria
      • Judeo-Iraqi Arabic
      • Saidi Arabic - Upper Egypt
      • Sudanese Arabic
    • Maghreb Arabic dialects
      • Algerian Arabic
      • Saharan Arabic
      • Shuwa Arabic - Chad
      • Hassaniya Arabic - Mauritania and Saharan area
      • Libyan Arabic
      • Judeo-Tripolitanian Arabic - Libyan dialect
      • Maltese language - North African dialect of Arabic spoken on Malta with Italian influences, written in Latin Alphabet
      • Moroccan Arabic
      • Judeo-Moroccan Arabic
      • Tunisian Arabic
      • Judeo-Tunisian Arabic

Several Jewish dialects, typically with a number of Hebrew loanwords, are grouped together with classical Arabic written in Hebrew script under the imprecise term Judeo-Arabic. Arabic (; , less formally, ) is the largest member of the Semitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family (classification: South Central Semitic) and is closely related to Hebrew and Aramaic. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Modern Standard Arabic is the dialect of Arabic used in almost all writing and in formal spoken contexts. ... The Arabic language is classified as a Semitic language. ... Ethnologue: Languages of the World is a web and print publication of SIL International (formerly known as the Summer Institute of Linguistics), a Christian linguistic service organization which studies lesser-known languages primarily to provide the speakers with native language biblical texts. ... Egyptian Arabic is a dialect of Arabic spoken in Egypt - and more specifically, the prestige dialect spoken in the northern Nile Delta region and its urban centers Cairo and Alexandria. ... Gulf Arabic or The Persian Gulf Arabic is a variety of the Arabic language spoken around both shores of the Persian Gulf, mainly in Kuwait, eastern Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and parts of Oman. ... Levantine Arabic is a group of Arabic dialects spoken in the 100 km-wide eastern-Mediterranean coastal strip, i. ... Probably the most divergent of all Arabic dialects is Cypriot Maronite Arabic, still spoken by most of the 130 elderly Maronite Catholics in Kormakiti (Korucam) in Northern Cyprus, overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. ... Lebanese or Lebanese Arabic is the spoken language of modern-day Lebanon, also used around the world by a large Lebanese diaspora. ... Palestinian Arabic is a Levantine Arabic dialect subgroup. ... Iraqi Arabic is a dialect of Arabic used in Iraq. ... Sudan is the melting pot for African and Arabian cultures. ... Maghreb arabic is a dialect of Arabic spoken in the Maghreb, including Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, and Libya. ... Algerian Arabic is the dialect or dialects of Arabic native to Algeria. ... Hassaniya is a dialect of Arabic derived from the Arabic spoken by the Beni Hassan tribe, who extended their authority over most of the Mauritanian Sahara between the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries. ... Libyan Arabic is Arabic as spoken in Libya. ... Maltese is a Semitic language of the Afro-Asiatic language family. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Darija. ... Tunisian Arabic is a Maghrebi dialect of the Arabic language, spoken by some 9 million people. ... Categories: Language stubs | Judaism-related stubs | Mizrahi Jews | Arab | Arabic languages | Jewish languages ...

South Semitic languages

Western South Semitic

The neutrality and factual accuracy of this article are disputed.
Please see the relevant discussion on the talk page.

• Ethiopic languages (Ethio-Semitic, Ethiopian Semitic):
  • North
    • Ge'ez language (Ethiopic) -- extinct, liturgical use in Ethiopian Orthodox and Eritrean Orthodox Churches only
    • Tigrinya language
    • Tigré language
    • Dahlik language — "newly discovered"
  • South
    • Transversal
      • Amharic-Argobba
        • Amharic language - national language of Ethiopia
        • Argobba language
      • Harari-East Gurage
        • Harari language
        • East Gurage
          • Selti language (also spelled Silt'e)
          • Zway language (also called Zay)
          • Ulbare language
          • Wolane language
          • Inneqor language
      • Outer
        • n-group:
          • Gafat language -- extinct
          • Soddo language (also called Kistane)
          • Goggot language
        • tt-group:
          • Mesmes language - extinct
          • Muher language
          • West Gurage
            • Masqan language (also spelled Mesqan)
              • CPWG
                • Central Western Gurage:
                  • Ezha language
                  • Chaha language
                  • Gura language
                  • Gumer language
                • Peripheral Western Gurage:
                  • Gyeto language
                  • Ennemor language (also called Inor)
                  • Endegen language

• Old South Arabian languages -- extinct, formerly believed to be the linguistic ancestors of modern South Arabian Semitic languages (for which see below)
  • Sabaean language -- extinct
  • Minaean language -- extinct
  • Qatabanian language -- extinct
  • Hadhramautic language -- extinct

Image File history File links Stop_hand. ... Ethiopic languages is a language group which belongs to the Western branch of the Southern Semitic languages. ... Geez (also spelt Giiz, translitered Gə‘əz, and pronounced ) is an ancient language that developed in the Ethiopian Highlands of the Horn of Africa as the language of the peasantry. ... The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church is an Oriental Orthodox church in Ethiopia that was part of the Coptic Church until it was granted its own Patriarch by Cyril VI, the Coptic Pope, in 1959. ... The Eritrean Orthodox Tewahdo Church is one of the Oriental Orthodox churches. ... Tigrigna (or ትግሪኛ) is a Semitic language spoken in Eritrea, where it is the official language, and in parts of Ethiopia and Israel. ... Tigre is a Semitic language descended from Geez and is closely related to Tigrinya and Amharic. ... Dahlik (Dahaalik, Dahalik, Dahlak) is a newly discovered language spoken exclusively in Eritrea off of Massawa, on three islands in the Dahlak Archipelago: Dahlak Kebir, Nora and Dehil. ... Amharic (አማርኛ ’amarñña) is a Semitic language spoken in North Central Ethiopia. ... Argobba is an Ethiopic language that was spoken in an area north-east of Addis Ababa. ... aman be dejqho ... The Zay language is one of the Ethiopic languages. ... The Wolane language is the language of the Wolane people of Ethiopia. ... The Gafat language is an extinct Semitic language that was once spoken along the Abbay River in Ethiopia. ... Soddo (autonym kəstane Christian; formerly called Aymälläl in Western sources, after a particular dialect of it) is a Gurage language spoken by about 300,000 people in southeastern Ethiopia. ... The Sabey language was a language and alphabet used in Ethiopia up until the 8th Century AD. The Sabay language was replaced by the Geez language and writing system. ...

Eastern South Semitic

These languages are spoken mainly by tiny minority populations on the Arabian peninsula in Yemen and Oman.

• Bathari language
• Harsusi language
• Hobyot language
• Jibbali language (also called Shehri)
• Mehri language
• Soqotri language - on the island of Soqotra (Yemen)

Bathari is a language spoken in Yemen and Oman by about 200 speakers. ... Jibbali (Alternate names: Ehkili, Geblet, Jibali, Qarawi, Shahari, Shehri, Sheret) is a dialect of Oman, interesting to philologists as one of the oldest of Semitic tongues. ... Mehri or Mahri is a Semitic language in the eastern part of Yemen, in Kuwait, and in Oman. ... Soqotri is the native language of the island of Socotra off the southern coast of Yemen. ...

Live Semitic languages by number of speakers

• 1. Arabic - 206,000,000
• 2. Amharic - 17,000,000
• 3. Hebrew - 6,000,000
• 4. Tigrinya - 5,100,000
• 5. Tigre - 800,000
• 6. Neo-Aramaic - 605,000
• 7. Maltese - 410,000
• 8. Syriac - 400,000
• 9. South Arabian Languages - 360,000
• 10. Soddo - 250,000

Arabic can mean: From or related to Arabia From or related to the Arabs The Arabic language; see also Arabic grammar The Arabic alphabet, used for expressing the languages of Arabic, Persian, Malay ( Jawi), Kurdish, Panjabi, Pashto, Sindhi and Urdu, among others. ... Amharic (አማርኛ) is a Semitic language spoken in Northern Central Ethiopia, where it is the official language. ... Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afro-Asiatic language family spoken by more than 7 million people, mainly in Israel, the West Bank, the United States and by Jewish communities around the world. ... Tigrigna (or ትግሪኛ) is a Semitic language spoken in Eritrea, where it is the official language, and in parts of Ethiopia and Israel. ... Tigre is a Semitic language descended from Geez and is closely related to Tigrinya and Amharic. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... Syriac is an Eastern Aramaic language that was once spoken across much of the Fertile Crescent. ... Soddo (autonym kəstane Christian; formerly called Aymälläl in Western sources, after a particular dialect of it) is a Gurage language spoken by about 300,000 people in southeastern Ethiopia. ...

See also

• List of Proto-Semitic stems
• Proto-Semitic
• Proto-Canaanite alphabet
• Middle Bronze Age alphabets

It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Proto-Semitic. ... Proto-Semitic is the hypothetical proto-language of the Semitic languages. ... Drawing of the 16 and 12 characters Wadi el-Hol inscriptions The Proto-Canaanite (also Proto-Sinaitic) alphabet is identified as the prototype of the Semitic alphabets that, mostly via the successful Phoenician alphabet became the ancestor of most scripts in use today. ... Two similar but undeciphered scripts believed to be ancestral to all modern alphabets are attested from the Middle Bronze Age (2000-1500 BCE): the Proto-Sinaitic script discovered in the winter of 1904-1905 by William Flinders Petrie, and dated to 1500 BCE, and the Wadi el-Ħôl (or Wadi...

Bibliography

• Hetzron (ed.) 1997. The Semitic Languages. Routledge: London. ISBN 0-415-05767-1. (For family tree, see p. 7).

Robert Hetzron (1937 – 1997) was a linguist who specialized in Afroasiatic languages and whose work embraced comparative studies, semantic analysis and theoretical aspects of grammar. ...

External links

• Chart of the Semitic Family Tree American Heritage Dictionary (4th ed.)
• "Semitic" in SIL's Ethnologue