SEMITIC LANGUAGE

Definition: SEMITIC LANGUAGE

SEMITIC LANGUAGE

1. A name used to designate a group of Asiatic and African languages, some living and some dead, namely: Hebrew and Ph[oe]nician, Aramaic, Assyrian, Arabic, Ethiopic (Geez and Ampharic). --Encyc. Brit.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Crosswords: SEMITIC LANGUAGE

English words defined with "SEMITIC LANGUAGE": Allophylian, Amharic, Arabic, Arabic language ♦ Canaanite ♦ Ethiopian language, Ethiopic ♦ Phoenician ♦ Semitic-speaking ♦ Ugaritic. (references)

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Specialty Definition: Semitic language

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

Semitic languages are a subfamily of the Afro-Asiatic languages. The most common Semitic languages spoken today are Arabic, Amharic, Hebrew, and Tigrinya.

The Central Semitic languages

Northwest Semitic languages

Canaanite languages
- Hebrew language
- Amorite language -- extinct
- Phoenician language -- extinct
- El Amarna -- extinct
- Moabite language -- extinct
Aramaic language
- Syriac language
Ugaritic language -- extinct

Arabic languages

Arabic language
Maltese language

The South Semitic languages

Western (within South Semitic)

Ethiopic languages
- North
  - Tigrinya language
  - Tigre language
  - Ge'ez language -- extinct
- South
  - Transverse
    - Amharic language
    - Argobba language
    - Harari language
    - East Gurage languages
      - Selti language
      - Wolane language
      - Zway language
      - Ulbare language
      - Inneqor language
  - Outer
    - Soddo language
    - Goggot language
    - Muher language
    - West Gurage languages
      - Masqan language
      - Ezha language
      - Gura language
      - Gyeto language
      - Ennemor language
      - Endegen language
Old South Arabian -- extinct

Eastern (within South Semitic)

Soqotri language
Mehri language
Jibbali language
Harusi language
Bathari language
Hobyot language

The Eastern Semitic Languages

Akkadian language -- extinct
Eblaite language -- extinct

Common characteristics

These languages all exhibit a pattern of words consisting of triconsonantal roots, with vowel changes, prefixes, and suffixes used to inflect them. For instance, in Hebrew:

gdl means "big" but is no part of speech and not a word, just a root

gadol means "big" and is an adjective

giddel means "he magnified"

magdelet means "magnifier" (lens)

spr is the root for "count" or "recount"

sefer means "book" (containing tales which are recounted)

sofer means "scribe" (Masoretic scribes counted verses)

mispar means "number".

Other Afro-Asiatic languages show similar patterns; e.g. in Tamashek Tawa akhluk means "creation" and ikhlakdu "he created".

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Semitic language."

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Non-Fiction Usage: SEMITIC LANGUAGE

Subject	Topic	Quote
Economic History	Malta	Malta has two official languages--Maltese (a Semitic language) and English. (references)
	Syria	Around the excavated city of Ebla in northern Syria, discovered in 1975, a great Semitic empire spread from the Red Sea north to Turkey and east to Mesopotamia from 2500 to 2400 B.C. The city of Ebla alone during that time had a population estimated at 260,000. Scholars believe the language of Ebla to be the oldest Semitic language. (references)
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

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Frequency of Internet Keywords: SEMITIC LANGUAGE

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.

Expression	Frequency per Day
semitic language	8
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Anagrams: SEMITIC LANGUAGE

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "a-a-c-e-e-g-g-i-i-l-m-n-s-t-u"
	-3 letters: emasculating.
	-4 letters: antimusical, calumniates, enigmatical, glutaminase.
	-5 letters: aluminates, analgetics, calamities, calumniate, centesimal, clientages, culminates, eliminates, emaciating, emasculate, escalating, eugenicist, gelignites, geniculate, glaciating, glutamines, lemniscate, maculating, megacities, melanistic, metalising, militances, multigenic, semantical, simulating, talismanic, ultimacies.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.