Semites

views updated May 17 2018

Semites Peoples whose native tongue belongs to the group of Semitic languages. They originally inhabited an area in Arabia and spoke a common language, Proto-Semitic, from which the Semitic languages descend. Among the modern Semites are Arabs, native Israelis, and many Ethiopians.

Semite

views updated Jun 08 2018

SEMITE

From "Shemi," Hebrew word from the name of Shem, son of Noah, who, according to Biblical tradition, was the eponymous ancestor of the Semites. Semites are people of the Middle East and Africa who speak one of the Semitic languages, which are branches of the Afro-Asiatic family. Examples of such languages are Amharic, Arabic, Aramaic, and Hebrew.

Semite

views updated May 14 2018

Sem·ite / ˈsemīt/ • n. a member of any of the peoples who speak or spoke a Semitic language, including in particular the Jews and Arabs.

Semite

views updated May 21 2018

Semite a member of any of the peoples who speak or spoke a Semitic language, including in particular the Jews and Arabs. The name comes via Latin from Greek Sēm ‘Shem’, son of Noah in the Bible, from whom these people were traditionally supposed to be descended.

Semite

views updated May 29 2018

Semite Hebrew, Arab, Assyrian, or Aramaean, regarded as a descendant of Shem (Gen. 10). XIX. — modL. Sēmīta, f. (Vulg.) Sēm — Gr. Sḗm Shem; see -ITE.
So Semitic XIX.