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The Semitic Language....
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inscription
in Semitic Language
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Semitic is an adjective referring to the peoples who have traditionally
spoken Semitic languages or to things pertaining
to them. Genetic analysis suggests that the Semitic peoples share a
significant common ancestry, despite important differences and
contributions from other groups. There is much debate about the scope of
the word's "racial" use in the context of population genetics and history,
but as a linguistic term it is well-defined, referring to a largely Middle
Eastern family of languages including Arabic,
Aramaic, Assyrian (Syriac),
Maltese, Amharic and Hebrew languages.
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The negative form anti-Semitic, however, is almost always
used to mean "anti-Jewish", specifically. The word derives from Shem, one of
the three sons of Noah. The Proto-Semitic peoples, ancestors of the Semites
in the Middle East, are thought to have been
originally from the Arabian Peninsula. |
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The modern linguistic meaning of "Semitic" is therefore
derived from, but not identical to Biblical usage.
In a linguistic context the Semitic languages include, among others,
Arabic, Aramaic,
Phoenician,
Canaanite, Akkadian, Amharic, Assyrian and
Hebrew. Some of the peoples who spoke these
languages were descendants of the Phoenicians,
which was the Greek name for the Canaanites. At the
height of the Carthaginian empire, Semitic languages
would have been widely spoken all the way along the southern
Mediterranean Sea to the Atlantic Ocean as
Carthage was originally a Phoenician colony. |
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A stylised Mediæval world
map
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In a religious context, the term Semitic can refer to
the religions associated with the speakers of these languages: thus
Judaism, Christianity and
Islam are often described as "Semitic religions,"
though the term Abrahamic religions is more
commonly used today. A truly comprehensive account of "Semitic" religions
would equally include the polytheistic religions (such as the religions of
Adad) that flourished in the Middle East
before the Abrahamic religions. |
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