<span class="mw-page-title-main">Semitic languages</span>

Semitic languages

<p>The <b>Semitic languages</b> are a branch of the <a href="/en/Afroasiatic_languages" title="Afroasiatic languages" class="wl">Afroasiatic language family</a>. They are spoken by more than 330 million people across much of <a href="/en/Western_Asia" title="Western Asia" class="wl">West Asia</a>,<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-2"><a href="#cite_note-2" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 1;" data-mw-group="note"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[note 1]</span></a></span> the <a href="/en/Horn_of_Africa" title="Horn of Africa" class="wl">Horn of Africa</a>,<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-4"><a href="#cite_note-4" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 2;" data-mw-group="note"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[note 2]</span></a></span> and latterly <a href="/en/North_Africa" title="North Africa" class="wl">North Africa</a>,<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-6"><a href="#cite_note-6" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 3;" data-mw-group="note"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[note 3]</span></a></span> <a href="/en/Malta" title="Malta" class="wl">Malta</a>,<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-7"><a href="#cite_note-7" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 4;" data-mw-group="note"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[note 4]</span></a></span> <a href="/en/West_Africa" title="West Africa" class="wl">West Africa</a>, <a href="/en/Chad" title="Chad" class="wl">Chad</a>, and in large <a href="/en/Immigration" title="Immigration" class="wl">immigrant</a> and <a href="/en/Expatriate" title="Expatriate" class="wl">expatriate communities</a> in <a href="/en/North_America" title="North America" class="wl">North America</a>, <a href="/en/Europe" title="Europe" class="wl">Europe</a>, and <a href="/en/Australasia" title="Australasia" class="wl">Australasia</a>. The terminology was first used in the 1780s by members of the <a href="/en/Göttingen_school_of_history" title="Göttingen school of history" class="wl">Göttingen school of history</a>, who derived the name from <a href="/en/Shem" title="Shem" class="wl">Shem</a>, one of the three <a href="/en/Generations_of_Noah" title="Generations of Noah" class="wl">sons of Noah</a> in the <a href="/en/Book_of_Genesis" title="Book of Genesis" class="wl">Book of Genesis</a>.</p>

<div class="shortdescription nomobile noexcerpt noprint searchaux" style="display:none" about="#mwt1">Branch of the Afroasiatic languages</div><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1033289096" typeof="mw:Extension/templatestyles mw:Transclusion">.mw-parser-output .hatnote{font-style:italic}.mw-parser-output div.hatnote{padding-left:1.6em;margin-bottom:0.5em}.mw-parser-output .hatnote i{font-style:normal}.mw-parser-output .hatnote+link+.hatnote{margin-top:-0.5em}</style><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1126788409" typeof="mw:Extension/templatestyles mw:Transclusion">.mw-parser-output .plainlist ol,.mw-parser-output .plainlist ul{line-height:inherit;list-style:none;margin:0;padding:0}.mw-parser-output .plainlist ol li,.mw-parser-output .plainlist ul li{margin-bottom:0}</style><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1066479718" typeof="mw:Extension/templatestyles">.mw-parser-output .infobox-subbox{padding:0;border:none;margin:-3px;width:auto;min-width:100%;font-size:100%;clear:none;float:none;background-color:transparent}.mw-parser-output .infobox-3cols-child{margin:auto}.mw-parser-output .infobox .navbar{font-size:100%}body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-header,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-subheader,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-above,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-title,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-image,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-full-data,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-below{text-align:center}</style><div class='mobile-collapse'><header class="mobile-collapse-header mobile-collapse-btn"><b>Quick facts: Semitic, Geographic distribution, Linguistic ...</b> <span class='arrow'>▼</span></header> <table class="infobox mobile-collapse-element" style="width:22em;"><tbody><tr><th colspan="2" class="infobox-above notheme" style="background-color:  #faecc8;">Semitic</th></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Geographic<br>distribution</th><td class="infobox-data"><a href="/en/Western_Asia" title="Western Asia" class="wl">West Asia</a>, <a href="/en/North_Africa" title="North Africa" class="wl">North Africa</a>,<br><a href="/en/Horn_of_Africa" title="Horn of Africa" class="wl">Horn of Africa</a>, <a href="/en/West_Africa" title="West Africa" class="wl">West Africa</a>, <a href="/en/Malta" title="Malta" class="wl">Malta</a></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label"><a href="/en/Language_family" title="Language family" class="wl">Linguistic classification</a></th><td class="infobox-data"><a href="/en/Afroasiatic_languages" title="Afroasiatic languages" class="wl">Afro-Asiatic</a><ul style="line-height:100%; margin-left:15px;padding-left:0"><li><b>Semitic</b></li></ul></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Proto-language</th><td class="infobox-data"><a href="/en/Proto-Semitic_language" title="Proto-Semitic language" class="wl">Proto-Semitic</a></td></tr><tr class="plainlist"><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Subdivisions</th><td class="infobox-data">
<ul><li><a href="/en/East_Semitic_languages" title="East Semitic languages" class="wl">East Semitic</a> †</li>
<li><a href="/en/West_Semitic_languages" title="West Semitic languages" class="wl">West Semitic</a></li></ul>
</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label"><a href="/en/ISO_639-2" title="ISO 639-2" class="wl">ISO 639-2</a> / <a href="/en/ISO_639-5" title="ISO 639-5" class="wl">5</a></th><td class="infobox-data"><samp><a href="https://iso639-3.sil.org/code/sem" title="iso639-3:sem" class="extiw" target="_blank">sem</a></samp></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label"><a href="/en/Glottolog" title="Glottolog" class="wl">Glottolog</a></th><td class="infobox-data"><samp><a rel="mw:ExtLink nofollow" href="http://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/semi1276" class="external text" target="_blank">semi1276</a></samp></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="infobox-full-data"><span><a href="/en/File:Semitic_languages.svg" class="mw-file-description image media-thumb" data-hash="File:Semitic_languages.svg"><img loading="lazy" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8f/Semitic_languages.svg/300px-Semitic_languages.svg.png" decoding="async" data-file-width="712" data-file-height="917" data-file-type="drawing" height="386" width="300" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8f/Semitic_languages.svg/450px-Semitic_languages.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8f/Semitic_languages.svg/600px-Semitic_languages.svg.png 2x" alt="Semitic_languages.svg"></a></span><div style="text-align:left;">Approximate historical distribution of Semitic languages</div></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="infobox-full-data"><span><a href="/en/File:Semitic_languages_-_Chronology.png" class="mw-file-description image media-thumb" data-hash="File:Semitic_languages_-_Chronology.png"><img loading="lazy" alt="Semitic_languages_-_Chronology.png" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3f/Semitic_languages_-_Chronology.png/300px-Semitic_languages_-_Chronology.png" decoding="async" data-file-width="1030" data-file-height="1080" data-file-type="bitmap" height="315" width="300" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3f/Semitic_languages_-_Chronology.png/450px-Semitic_languages_-_Chronology.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3f/Semitic_languages_-_Chronology.png/600px-Semitic_languages_-_Chronology.png 2x"></a></span><br><div style="text-align:left;">Chronology mapping of Semitic languages</div></td></tr></tbody></table> <footer class='mobile-collapse-footer mobile-collapse-btn'><b>Close</b> <span class='arrow'>▲</span></footer></div>

<p>Semitic languages occur in written form from a very early historical date in West Asia, with <a href="/en/East_Semitic_languages" title="East Semitic languages" class="wl">East Semitic</a> <a href="/en/Akkadian_language" title="Akkadian language" class="wl">Akkadian</a> and <a href="/en/Eblaite_language" title="Eblaite language" class="wl">Eblaite</a> texts (written in a script adapted from Sumerian <a href="/en/Cuneiform" title="Cuneiform" class="wl">cuneiform</a>) appearing from the 30th century BCE and the 25th century BCE in <a href="/en/Mesopotamia" title="Mesopotamia" class="wl">Mesopotamia</a> and the north eastern <a href="/en/Levant" title="Levant" class="wl">Levant</a> respectively. The only earlier attested languages are <a href="/en/Sumerian_language" title="Sumerian language" class="wl">Sumerian</a> and <a href="/en/Elamite_language" title="Elamite language" class="wl">Elamite</a> (2800 BCE to 550 BCE), both <a href="/en/Language_isolate" title="Language isolate" class="wl">language isolates</a>, and <a href="/en/Egyptian_language" title="Egyptian language" class="wl">Egyptian</a> (a sister branch of the Afroasiatic family, related to the Semitic languages but not part of them). <a href="/en/Amorite_language" title="Amorite language" class="wl">Amorite</a> appeared in Mesopotamia and the northern Levant circa 2000 BC, followed by the mutually intelligible <a href="/en/Canaanite_languages" title="Canaanite languages" class="wl">Canaanite languages</a> (including Hebrew, Phoenician, Moabite, Edomite and Ammonite, and perhaps Ekronite, Amalekite and Sutean), the still spoken <a href="/en/Aramaic" title="Aramaic" class="wl">Aramaic</a>, and <a href="/en/Ugaritic" title="Ugaritic" class="wl">Ugaritic</a> during the 2nd millennium BC.</p>

<p>Most scripts used to write Semitic languages are <a href="/en/Abjad" title="Abjad" class="wl">abjads</a><span>&nbsp;</span><span>–</span><span> </span>a type of <a href="/en/Alphabet" title="Alphabet" class="wl">alphabetic</a> script that omits some or all of the vowels, which is feasible for these languages because the consonants are the primary carriers of meaning in the Semitic languages. These include the <a href="/en/Ugaritic_alphabet" title="Ugaritic alphabet" class="wl">Ugaritic</a>, <a href="/en/Phoenician_alphabet" title="Phoenician alphabet" class="wl">Phoenician</a>, <a href="/en/Aramaic_alphabet" title="Aramaic alphabet" class="wl">Aramaic</a>, <a href="/en/Hebrew_alphabet" title="Hebrew alphabet" class="wl">Hebrew</a>, <a href="/en/Syriac_alphabet" title="Syriac alphabet" class="wl">Syriac</a>, <a href="/en/Arabic_alphabet" title="Arabic alphabet" class="wl">Arabic</a>, and <a href="/en/Ancient_South_Arabian_script" title="Ancient South Arabian script" class="wl">ancient South Arabian</a> alphabets. The <a href="/en/Geʽez_script" title="Geʽez script" class="wl">Geʽez script</a>, used for writing the Semitic languages of <a href="/en/Ethiopia" title="Ethiopia" class="wl">Ethiopia</a> and <a href="/en/Eritrea" title="Eritrea" class="wl">Eritrea</a>, is technically an <a href="/en/Abugida" title="Abugida" class="wl">abugida</a><span>&nbsp;</span><span>–</span><span> </span> a modified abjad in which vowels are notated using <a href="/en/Diacritic" title="Diacritic" class="wl">diacritic</a> marks added to the consonants at all times, in contrast with other Semitic languages which indicate vowels based on need or for introductory purposes. <a href="/en/Maltese_language" title="Maltese language" class="wl">Maltese</a> is the only Semitic language written in the <a href="/en/Latin_script" title="Latin script" class="wl">Latin script</a> and the only Semitic language to be an official language of the <a href="/en/European_Union" title="European Union" class="wl">European Union</a>.</p>

<p>The Semitic languages are notable for their <a href="/en/Nonconcatenative_morphology" title="Nonconcatenative morphology" class="wl">nonconcatenative morphology</a>. That is, word <a href="/en/Semitic_root" title="Semitic root" class="wl">roots</a> are not themselves syllables or words, but instead are isolated sets of consonants (usually three, making a so-called <i><a href="/en/Semitic_root#Triconsonantal_roots" title="Semitic root" class="wl">triliteral root</a></i>). Words are composed out of roots not so much by adding prefixes or suffixes, but rather by filling in the vowels between the root consonants, although prefixes and suffixes are often added as well. For example, in Arabic, the root meaning "write" has the form <i><a href="/en/K-T-B" title="K-T-B" class="wl">k-t-b</a></i>. From this root, words are formed by filling in the vowels and sometimes adding consonants, e.g. كتاب <i><b>k</b>i<b>t</b>ā<b>b</b></i> "book", كتب <i><b>k</b>u<b>t</b>u<b>b</b></i> "books", كاتب <i><b>k</b>ā<b>t</b>i<b>b</b></i> "writer", كتّاب <i><b>k</b>u<b>tt</b>ā<b>b</b></i> "writers", كتب <i><b>k</b>a<b>t</b>a<b>b</b>a</i> "he wrote", يكتب <i>ya<b>kt</b>u<b>b</b>u</i> "he writes", etc.</p>



The Semitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They are spoken by more than 330 million people across much of West Asia, West Africa, Chad, and in large immigrant and expatriate communities in North America, Europe, and Australasia. The terminology was first used in the 1780s by members of the Göttingen school of history, who derived the name from Shem, one of the three sons of Noah in the Book of Genesis. Semitic languages occur in written form from a very early historical date in West Asia, with East Semitic Akkadian and Eblaite texts appearing from the 30th century BCE and the 25th century BCE in Mesopotamia and the north eastern Levant respectively. The only earlier attested languages are Sumerian and Elamite , both language isolates, and Egyptian . Amorite appeared in Mesopotamia and the northern Levant circa 2000 BC, followed by the mutually intelligible Canaanite languages , the still spoken Aramaic, and Ugaritic during the 2nd millennium BC. Most scripts used to write Semitic languages are abjads – a type of alphabetic script that omits some or all of the vowels, which is feasible for these languages because the consonants are the primary carriers of meaning in the Semitic languages. These include the Ugaritic, Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic, and ancient South Arabian alphabets. The Geʽez script, used for writing the Semitic languages of Ethiopia and Eritrea, is technically an abugida –  a modified abjad in which vowels are notated using diacritic marks added to the consonants at all times, in contrast with other Semitic languages which indicate vowels based on need or for introductory purposes. Maltese is the only Semitic language written in the Latin script and the only Semitic language to be an official language of the European Union. 