Semitic

Meaning

1. Of or pertaining to a subdivision of Afroasiatic Semitic languages: Akkadian, Amharic, Arabic, Aramaic, Hebrew, Maltese, Phoenician, Syriac, Tigrigna etc.
2. Of or pertaining to the Semites; of or pertaining to one or more Semitic peoples.
3. The Semitic languages in general.
4. Of or pertaining to the Israeli, Jewish, or Hebrew people.
5. Of or pertaining to any of the religions which originated among the Semites; Abrahamic.
6. Of or pertaining to the descendants of Shem, the eldest of three sons of Noah.

Etymology / origin

From Semite + -ic (18th century), from German semitisch, from Ancient Greek Σήμ (Sḗm), from the Hebrew שֵׁם (Šēm, “Shem”), the name of the eldest son of Noah in biblical tradition (Genesis 5.32, 6.10, 10.21), considered the forefather of the Semitic peoples. Perhaps derived from Akkadian 𒈬 (šumu, literally “name" or "son”). The word was coined and first applied to the Semitic languages by August Ludwig von Schlözer in 1781.

Sources

No citations have been attached yet.