Semitic
WordNet
adjective
(1) Of or relating to or characteristic of Semites
"Semite peoples"
(2) Of or relating to the group of Semitic languages
"Semitic tongues have a complicated morphology"
noun
(3) A major branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family
WiktionaryText
Etymology
From the English Semite, an 18th century ethnological label derived from the Greek Σημ, Sēm, from the German semitisch, from the Hebrew שֵׂם, 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 the Akkadian šumu, name or son.
Adjective
- Of or pertaining to a subdivision of Afro-Asiatic Semitic languages: Amharic, Arabic, Aramaic, Syriac, Akkadian, Hebrew, Maltese, Tigrigna, Phoenician etc.
- Of or pertaining to the Semites: Semitic people.
- Of or pertaining to the descendants of Shem, the eldest of three sons of Noah.
- In a narrower sense, of or pertaining to the Israeli, Jewish, or Hebrew people.
Related terms
- Semite
- anti-Semite
- anti-Semitic
- Semitics
- Semitism
- anti-Semitism