Semitic languages

 ( Afroasiatic Languages ) 

The Semitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They include Arabic, Amharic, Tigrinya, Aramaic, Hebrew language, Maltese language, Modern South Arabian languages and numerous other ancient and modern languages. They are spoken by more than 460 million people across much of Western Asia, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, Malta, and in large Immigration and Expatriate 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 (שם), one of the three sons of Noah in the Book of Genesis.

Arabic is by far the most widely spoken of the Semitic languages with million native speakers of all varieties, and it is the most spoken native language in Africa and West Asia. Other Semitic languages include Amharic ( million native speakers), Tigrinya ( million speakers), Hebrew (5 million native speakers), Tigre language ( million speakers), and Maltese ( speakers). Arabic, Amharic, Hebrew, Tigrinya, and Maltese are considered national languages with an official status.

Semitic languages occur in written form from a very early historical date in West Asia, with East Semitic Akkadian (also known as Assyrian and Babylonian) and Eblaite language texts (written in a script adapted from Sumerian cuneiform) appearing from in Mesopotamia and the northeastern Levant respectively. The only earlier attested languages are Sumerian and Elamite language (2800 BCE to 550 BCE), both , and Egyptian (), a sister branch within the Afroasiatic family, related to the Semitic languages but not part of them. Amorite language appeared in Mesopotamia and the northern Levant , followed by the mutually intelligible Canaanite languages (including Hebrew, Phoenician, Moabite, Edomite, and Ammonite, and perhaps Ekronite, Amalekite and Sutean), the still spoken Aramaic, and Ugaritic during the 2nd millennium BC.

Most scripts used to write Semitic languages are type of 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 alphabet, Hebrew alphabet, Syriac alphabet, Arabic alphabet, 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 language is the only Semitic language written in the Latin script and the only Semitic language to be an official language of the European Union.

The Semitic languages are notable for their nonconcatenative morphology. That is, word Semitic root are not themselves syllables or words, but instead are isolated sets of consonants (usually three, making a so-called triliteral root). Words are composed from 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 K-T-B. From this root, words are formed by filling in the vowels and sometimes adding consonants, e.g. كِتاب k it āb "book", كُتُب k ut ub "books", كاتِب k āt ib "writer", كُتّاب k utt āb "writers", كَتَب ka ta ba "he wrote", يكتُب ya ktu bu "he writes", etc or the Hebrew equivalent root K-T-B כתב forming words like כַתָב katav he wrote, יִכתוב yichtov he will write, כותֵב kotev he writes or a writer, מִכתָב michtav a letter, הִכתִיב hichtiv he dictated. The Hebrew Kaf alternatively becomes Khaf (as in Scottish "loch") depending on the letter preceding it.

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Name and identification The similarity of the Hebrew, Arabic and Aramaic languages has been accepted by all scholars since medieval times. The languages were familiar to Western European scholars due to historical contact with neighbouring countries and through Biblical studies, and a comparative analysis of Hebrew, Arabic, and Aramaic was published in Latin in 1538 by Guillaume Postel. Almost two centuries later, Hiob Ludolf described the similarities between these three languages and the Ethio-Semitic languages. However, neither scholar named this grouping as "Semitic".

The term "Semitic" was created by members of the Göttingen school of history, initially by August Ludwig von Schlözer (1781), to designate the languages closely related to Arabic, Aramaic, and Hebrew.

; The choice of name was derived from Shem, one of the three sons of Noah in the genealogical accounts of the biblical Book of Genesis, or more precisely from the Koine Greek rendering of the name, . Johann Gottfried Eichhorn is credited with popularising the term, particularly via a 1795 article "Semitische Sprachen" ( Semitic languages) in which he justified the terminology against criticism that Hebrew and Canaanite were the same language despite Canaan being "Hamitic" in the Table of Nations:;

Previously these languages had been commonly known as the "" in European literature.; In the 19th century, "Semitic" became the conventional name; however, an alternative name, "", was later introduced by James Cowles Prichard and used by some writers.

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History

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Ancient Semitic-speaking peoples Semitic languages were spoken and written across much of the Middle East and Asia Minor during the Bronze Age and Iron Age, the earliest attested being the East Semitic Akkadian of Mesopotamia (Akkad, Assyria, Isin, Larsa, and Babylonia) from the third millennium BC.[1] Andrew George, "Babylonian and Assyrian: A History of Akkadian", In: Postgate, J. N., (ed.), Languages of Iraq, Ancient and Modern. London: British School of Archaeology in Iraq, pp. 37.

The origin of Semitic-speaking peoples is still under discussion. Several locations were proposed as possible sites of a prehistoric origin of Semitic-speaking peoples: Mesopotamia, the Levant, Ethiopia, the Eastern Mediterranean region, the Arabian Peninsula, and North Africa. According to a 2009 study, the Semitic languages originated in the Levant , and were introduced to the Horn of Africa c. 800 BC from the southern Arabian Peninsula. Others assign the arrival of Semitic speakers in the Horn of Africa to a much earlier date.

According to another hypothesis, Semitic originated from an offshoot of a still earlier language in North Africa; desertification led to emigration in the fourth millennium BC to both what is now Ethiopia and northeast out of Africa into West Asia.

(2019). 9780691191652, Princeton University Press. . ISBN 9780691191652

The various extremely closely related and mutually intelligible Canaanite languages, a branch of the Northwest Semitic languages included Edomite, Hebrew language, Ammonite, Moabite language, Phoenician (Punic/Ancient Carthage), Samaritan Hebrew, and . They were spoken in what is today Israel and the Palestinian territories, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, the northern Sinai Peninsula, some northern and eastern parts of the Arabian Peninsula, southwest fringes of Turkey, and in the case of Phoenician, coastal regions of Tunisia (Carthage), Libya, Algeria, and parts of Morocco, Spain, and possibly in Malta and other Mediterranean islands. Ugaritic, a Northwest Semitic language closely related to but distinct from the Canaanite group was spoken in the kingdom of Ugarit in north western Syria.

A hybrid Canaano-Akkadian language also emerged in Canaan (Israel and the Palestinian territories, Jordan, Lebanon) during the 14th century BC, incorporating elements of the Mesopotamian East Semitic Akkadian language of Assyria and Babylonia with the West Semitic Canaanite languages.

Aramaic language, a still living ancient Northwest Semitic language, first attested in the 12th century BC in the northern Levant, gradually replaced the East Semitic and Canaanite languages across much of the Near East, particularly after being adopted as the lingua franca of the vast Neo-Assyrian Empire (911–605 BC) by Tiglath-Pileser III during the 8th century BC, and being retained by the succeeding Neo-Babylonian and Achaemenid Empires.

The Chaldean language (not to be confused with Aramaic or its Biblical Aramaic, sometimes referred to as Chaldean) was a Northwest Semitic language, possibly closely related to Aramaic, but no examples of the language remain, as after settling in south eastern Mesopotamia from the Levant during the 9th century BC, the appear to have rapidly adopted the Akkadian and Aramaic languages of the indigenous Mesopotamians.

Old South Arabian languages (classified as South Semitic and therefore distinct from the Central-Semitic Arabic) were spoken in the kingdoms of Dilmun, Sheba, Ubar, Socotra, and Magan, which in modern terms encompassed part of the eastern coast of Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, and Yemen. South Semitic languages are thought to have spread to the Horn of Africa circa 8th century BC where the Geʽez language emerged (though the direction of influence remains uncertain).

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First century to twentieth century CE Syriac language, a 200 CE"…Syriac, the Classical dialect of Aramaic first attested in Edessa, about 200 CE, but which spread through the Christian communities of Mesopotamia and the Levant in the following centuries.", Revival and Awakening American Evangelical Missionaries in Iran and the Origins of Assyrian Nationalism, p.49 Eastern Middle Aramaic dialect, used as a liturgical language in Mesopotamia, the Levant, and Kerala, India, rose to importance as a literary language of early Christianity in the third to fifth centuries and continued into the early era.

The Arabic language, although originating in the Arabian Peninsula, first emerged in written form in the 1st to 4th centuries CE in the southern regions of The Levant. With the advent of the early Arab conquests of the seventh and eighth centuries, Classical Arabic eventually replaced many (but not all) of the indigenous Semitic languages and cultures of the Near East. Both the Near East and North Africa saw an influx of Muslim Arabs from the Arabian Peninsula, followed later by non-Semitic Muslim Iranian peoples and Turkic peoples. The previously dominant Aramaic dialects maintained by the Assyrians, Babylonians and Persians gradually began to be sidelined, however descendant dialects of Eastern Aramaic (including Suret language (Assyrian and Chaldean varieties), Turoyo language, and Mandaic language) survive to this day among the Assyrian people and Mandaeans of northern and southern Iraq, northwestern Iran, northeastern Syria and southeastern Turkey, with up to a million fluent speakers. Syriac is a recognized language in Iraq, furthermore, Mesopotamian Arabic is one of the most Syriac influenced dialects of Arabic, due to Syriac, the dialect of Edessa specifically, having originated in Mesopotamia.; ; Meanwhile Western Aramaic is now only spoken by a few thousand Christian and Muslim Arameans (Syriacs) in western Syria. The Arabs spread their Central Semitic language to North Africa (Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, and northern Sudan and Mauritania), where it gradually replaced Egyptian Coptic language and many Berber languages (although Berber is still largely extant in many areas), and for a time to the Iberian Peninsula (modern Spain, Portugal, and Gibraltar) and Malta.

With the patronage of the caliphs and the prestige of its sacred language status, Arabic rapidly became one of the world's main literary languages. Its spread among the masses took much longer, however, as many (although not all) of the native populations outside the Arabian Peninsula only gradually abandoned their languages in favour of Arabic. As Bedouin tribes settled in conquered areas, it became the main language of not only central Arabia, but also Yemen, the Fertile Crescent, and Egypt. Most of the Maghreb followed, specifically in the wake of the Banu Hilal's incursion in the 11th century, and Arabic became the native language of many inhabitants of al-Andalus. After the collapse of the kingdom of Dongola in the 14th century, Arabic began to spread south of Egypt into modern Sudan; soon after, the Beni Ḥassān brought Arabization to Mauritania. A number of Modern South Arabian languages distinct from Arabic still survive, such as Soqotri language, Mehri language and Shehri language which are mainly spoken in Socotra, Yemen, and Oman.

Meanwhile, the Semitic languages that had arrived from southern Arabia in the 8th century BC were diversifying in Ethiopia and Eritrea, where, under heavy Cushitic influence, they split into a number of languages, including Amharic and Tigrinya. With the expansion of Ethiopia under the Solomonic dynasty, Amharic, previously a minor local language, spread throughout much of the country, replacing both Semitic (such as Gafat language) and non-Semitic (such as Weyto language) languages, and replacing Geʽez as the principal literary language (though Geʽez remains the liturgical language for Christians and Jews of Ethiopean descent in the region); this spread continues to this day, with Qimant language set to disappear in another generation.

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Present distribution Arabic is currently the native language of majorities from Mauritania to Oman, and from Iraq to Sudan. Classical Arabic is the language of the Quran. It is also studied widely in the non-Arabic-speaking Muslim world. The Maltese language is a descendant of the extinct Siculo-Arabic, a variety of Maghrebi Arabic formerly spoken in Sicily. The modern Maltese alphabet is based on the Latin script with the addition of some letters with diacritic marks and digraphs. Maltese language is the only Semitic official language within the European Union.

Successful as second languages far beyond their numbers of contemporary first-language speakers, a few Semitic languages today are the base of the sacred literature of some of the world's major religions, including Islam (Arabic), Judaism (Hebrew and Aramaic (Biblical Aramaic and Talmudic)), churches of Syriac Christianity (Classical Syriac) and Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox Christianity (Geʽez). Millions learn these as a second language (or an archaic version of their modern tongues): many learn to read and recite the Qur'an and Jews speak and study Biblical Hebrew, the language of the Torah, Midrash, and other Jewish scriptures. The followers of the Assyrian Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic Church, Ancient Church of the East, Assyrian Pentecostal Church, Assyrian Evangelical Church, and the Syriac Orthodox Church speak Eastern Aramaic languages and use Syriac language as their liturgical language. Classical Syriac is also used liturgically by the primarily Arabic-speaking followers of the Maronite Church, Syriac Catholic Church, and was originally the liturgical language of the Melkite in Antioch, and ancient Syria Prima."JACOB BARcLAY, Melkite Orthodox Syro-Byzantine Manuscripts in Syriac and Palestinian Aramaic" quote from the German book Internationale Zeitschriftenschau für Bibelwissenschaft und Grenzgebiete, p. 291"However, in contrast to what went on in northern Syria and Mesopotamia, where Syriac competed well with Greek to remain a great cultural language, Syropalestinian was in a weak position with regard to Greek and, later, to Arabic." quote from the book The Fourth International Conference on the History of Bilād Al-Shām During the Umayyad Period: English section, p.31"Some Chalcedonians of Palestine and the Transjordan chose to write in Christian Palestinian Aramaic (CPA) rather than Syriac." quote from the book A Companion to Byzantine Epistolography, p.68

Koine Greek and Classical Arabic are the main liturgical languages of Eastern Orthodox Christians in the Middle East, who compose the patriarchates of Antioch, Jerusalem, and Alexandria. Mandaic is both spoken and used as a liturgical language by the Mandaeans. Although the majority of Neo-Aramaic dialects spoken today are descended from Eastern varieties, Western Neo-Aramaic is still spoken in two villages in Syria. Despite the ascendancy of Arabic in the Middle East, other Semitic languages still exist.

Biblical Hebrew, long extinct as a colloquial language and in use only as a Jewish literary, intellectual, and liturgical language, was revived in spoken form at the end of the 19th century. Modern Hebrew is the main language of Israel, with easily understandable Biblical Hebrew remaining as the language of the Bible, Jewish liturgy and religious scholarship of Jews worldwide. Modern Hebrew is the only example of an ancient tongue revived in modern times to become a vibrant, modern language used by Israel's 10 million citizens and many more in other countries.

In Arab-dominated Yemen and Oman, on the southern rim of the Arabian Peninsula, a few tribes continue to speak Modern South Arabian languages such as Mehri language and Soqotri language. These languages differ greatly from both the surrounding Arabic dialects and from the languages of the Old South Arabian inscriptions.

Historically linked to the peninsular homeland of Old South Arabian, of which only one language, Razihi language, remains, Ethiopia and Eritrea contain a substantial number of Semitic languages; the most widely spoken are Amharic in Ethiopia, Tigre language in Eritrea, and Tigrinya in both. Amharic is the official language of Ethiopia. Tigrinya is a working language in Eritrea. Tigre is spoken by over one million people in the northern and central Eritrean lowlands and parts of eastern Sudan. A number of Gurage languages are spoken by populations in the semi-mountainous region of central Ethiopia, while Harari language is restricted to the city of Harar. Geʽez remains the liturgical language for certain groups of Christians in Ethiopia and in Eritrea and Ethiopean Jews.and the Beta Israel Jewish community

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Phonology The phonologies of the attested Semitic languages are presented here from a comparative point of view (see Proto-Semitic language#Phonology for details on the phonological reconstruction of Proto-Semitic used in this article). The reconstruction of Proto-Semitic (PS) was originally based primarily on Arabic, whose phonology and morphology (particularly in Classical Arabic) is very conservative, and which preserves as contrastive 28 out of the evident 29 consonantal phonemes. with and merging into Arabic and becoming Arabic .

+ Proto-Semitic consonant phonemes

Note: the fricatives *s, *z, *ṣ, *ś, *ṣ́, and *ṱ may also be interpreted as affricates (/t͡s/, /d͡z/, /t͡sʼ/, /t͡ɬ/, /t͡ɬʼ/, and /t͡θʼ/), as discussed in .

This comparative approach is natural for the , as sound correspondences among the consonants of the Semitic languages are very straightforward for a family of its time depth. Sound shifts affecting the vowels are more numerous and, at times, less regular.

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Consonants Each Proto-Semitic phoneme was reconstructed to explain a certain regular sound correspondence between various Semitic languages. Note that Latin letter values ( italicized) for extinct languages are a question of transcription; the exact pronunciation is not recorded.

Most of the attested languages have merged a number of the reconstructed original fricatives, though South Arabian retains all fourteen (and has added a fifteenth from *p > f).

In Aramaic and Hebrew, all non-emphatic stops occurring singly after a vowel were softened to fricatives, leading to an alternation that was often later phonemicized as a result of the loss of gemination.

In languages exhibiting pharyngealization of emphatics, the original velar emphatic has rather developed to a Uvular consonant stop .

Note: the fricatives *s, *z, *ṣ, *ś, *ṣ́, and *ṱ may also be interpreted as affricates (/t͡s/, /d͡z/, /t͡sʼ/, /t͡ɬ/, /t͡ɬʼ/, and /t͡θʼ/).

Notes:

1. Proto-Semitic was still pronounced as in Biblical Hebrew, but no letter was available in the Early Linear Script, so the letter ש did double duty, representing both and . Later on, however, merged with , but the old spelling was largely retained, and the two pronunciations of ש were distinguished graphically in Tiberian Hebrew as שׁ vs. שׂ < .
2. Biblical Hebrew as of the 3rd century BCE apparently still distinguished the phonemes and from and , respectively, based on transcriptions in the Septuagint. As in the case of , no letters were available to represent these sounds, and existing letters did double duty: ח and ע . In both of these cases, however, the two sounds represented by the same letter eventually merged, leaving no evidence (other than early transcriptions) of the former distinctions.
3. Although early Aramaic (pre-7th century BCE) had only 22 consonants in its alphabet, it apparently distinguished all of the original 29 Proto-Semitic phonemes, including , , , , , , and although by Middle Aramaic times, these had all merged with other sounds. This conclusion is mainly based on the shifting representation of words etymologically containing these sounds; in early Aramaic writing, the first five are merged with , , , , and respectively, but later with , , , , and . (Also note that due to begadkefat spirantization, which occurred after this merger, OAm. t > ṯ and d > ḏ in some positions, so that PS *t,ṯ and *d, ḏ may be realized as either of t, ṯ and d, ḏ respectively.) The sounds and were always represented using the pharyngeal letters and , but they are distinguished from the pharyngeals in the Demotic-script papyrus Amherst 63, written about 200 BCE.. This suggests that these sounds, too, were distinguished in Old Aramaic language, but written using the same letters as they later merged with.
4. The earlier pharyngeals can be distinguished in Akkadian from the zero reflexes of *ḥ, *ʕ by e-coloring adjacent *a, e.g. pS *ˈbaʕal-um 'owner, lord' > Akk. bēlu(m).
5. Hebrew and Aramaic underwent begadkefat spirantization at a certain point, whereby the stop sounds were lenition to the corresponding fricatives (written ḇ ḡ ḏ ḵ p̄ ṯ) when occurring after a vowel and not geminated. This change probably happened after the original Old Aramaic phonemes disappeared in the 7th century BCE, and most likely occurred after the loss of Hebrew . It is known to have occurred in Hebrew by the 2nd century CE. After a certain point this alternation became contrastive in word-medial and final position (though bearing low functional load), but in word-initial position they remained allophonic. In Modern Hebrew, the distinction has a higher functional load due to the loss of gemination, although only the three fricatives are still preserved (the fricative is pronounced in modern Hebrew). Samaritan Hebrew hasn't undergone this process at all.
6. In the Northwest Semitic languages, became at the beginning of a word, e.g. Hebrew yeled "boy" < *wald (cf. Arabic walad).
7. There is evidence of a rule of assimilation of /j/ to the following coronal consonant in pre-tonic position, shared by Hebrew, Phoenician, and Aramaic.
8. In Assyrian Neo-Aramaic, is nonexistent. In general cases, the language would lack pharyngeal fricative (as heard in Ayin). However, /ʕ/ is retained in educational speech, especially among Assyrian priests.Sebastian Brock (2006). An Introduction to Syriac Studies. Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press. .
9. The palatalization of Proto-Semitic Gimel to Arabic jīm, might be connected to the pronunciation of Qoph as a gāf in most of the Arabian peninsula; since in most of the colloquial dialects of the Arabian Peninsula ج is pronounced jīm and ق is pronounced gāf , except in western and southern Yemeni Arabic and parts of Omani Arabic where ج is gīm and ق is qāf .
10. Ugaritic orthography indicated the vowel after the glottal stop.
11. The Arabic letter (ج) has three main pronunciations in Modern Standard Arabic. in north Algeria, Iraq, also in most of the Arabian peninsula and as the predominant pronunciation of Literary Arabic outside the Arab world, occurs in most of the Levant and most North Africa; and is used in northern Egypt and some regions in Yemen and Oman. In addition to other minor allophones.
12. can be written , and always is in the Ugaritic and Arabic contexts. In Ugaritic, sometimes assimilates to , as in ġmʔ 'thirsty' (Arabic ẓmʔ, Hebrew ṣmʔ, but Ugaritic mẓmủ 'thirsty', root ẓmʔ, is also attested).
13. Early Amharic might have had a different phonology.
14. The pronunciations /ʕ/ and /ħ/ for ʿAyin and Ḥet, respectively, still occur among some older Mizrahi speakers, but for most modern Israelis, ʿAyin and Ḥet are realized as /ʔ, -/ and /χ ~ x/, respectively.
15. the correspondence between Proto-Semitic phonemes and Modern South Arabian languages is not one-to-one, since some phonemes have merged, some phonemes have changed their pronunciation and some phonemes were split depending on the language, for example the phoneme appears to be connected to different phonological developments.

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Plain sibilants Sibilants have been one of the aspects of Semitic phonology that historical linguists have taken the most interest in, and Semiticists are nearly unanimous in the opinion that Proto-Semitic contained three plain sibilants, referred to by the shorthand S₁, S₂, and S₃, or as š, ś, and s. The realizations of these phonemes in earlier times is debated, with hypotheses ranging from a palatal for S₁, and or for S₃, to plain for S₁ and for S₃.

Interestingly, the point of least controversy is the realization of S₂, widely accepted to be lateral , In spite of the fact that this phoneme has completely merged with S₁ or S₃ in every other Semitic language outside of Modern South Arabian languages, such that the most widely-spoken Semitic languages (Arabic, Amharic, Hebrew and Tigrinya) have a two-way sibilant distinction rather than the original three-way distinction. This merger occurred at different times, and in different ways across Semitic which has led to the non-correspondence of, for example, Arabic, Hebrew and Shehri (Jibbali) words for ‘ten’ from Proto-Semitic (ʕ-s₂-r).

+ !Proto-Semitic !ʕ-s₂-r (ten)

Notes: s₁ (š) is , sometimes and (in Soqotri language) - and (for some speakers of Shehri language).

The following table shows the development of the various fricatives in Hebrew, Aramaic, Arabic and Maltese through cognate words:

1. possibly affricated (/dz/ /tɬʼ/ /ʦʼ/ /tθʼ/ /tɬ/)

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Vowels Proto-Semitic vowels are, in general, harder to deduce due to the nonconcatenative morphology of Semitic languages. The history of vowel changes in the languages makes drawing up a complete table of correspondences impossible, so only the most common reflexes can be given:

+ Vowel correspondences in Semitic languages (in proto-Semitic stressed syllables) ! rowspan="2"	pS ! colspan="2"	Arabic ! colspan="2"	Aramaic ! colspan="3"	Hebrew ! rowspan="2"	Geʽez ! rowspan="2"	Akkadian

1. in a stressed open syllable
2. in a stressed closed syllable before a geminate
3. in a stressed closed syllable before a consonant cluster
4. when the proto-Semitic stressed vowel remained stressed
5. pS *a,*ā > Akk. e,ē in the neighborhood of pS *ʕ,*ħ and before r
6. i.e. pS *g,*k,*ḳ,*χ > Geʽez gʷ, kʷ,ḳʷ,χʷ / _u

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Grammar The Semitic languages share a number of grammatical features, although variation — both between separate languages, and within the languages themselves — has naturally occurred over time.

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Word order The reconstructed default word order in Proto-Semitic is verb–subject–object (VSO), possessed–possessor (NG), and noun–adjective (NA). This was still the case in Classical Arabic and Biblical Hebrew, e.g. Classical Arabic رأى محمد فريدا ra'ā muħammadun farīdan. (literally "saw Muhammad Farid", Muhammad saw Farid). In the modern Arabic vernaculars, however, as well as sometimes in Modern Standard Arabic (the modern literary language based on Classical Arabic) and Modern Hebrew, the classical VSO order has given way to SVO. Modern Ethiopian Semitic languages follow a different word order: SOV, possessor–possessed, and adjective–noun; however, the oldest attested Ethiopian Semitic language, Geʽez, was VSO, possessed–possessor, and noun–adjective. Akkadian was also predominantly SOV.

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Cases in nouns and adjectives The proto-Semitic three-case system (nominative case, Accusative case and genitive case) with differing vowel endings (-u, -a -i), fully preserved in Qur'anic Arabic (see ʾIʿrab), Akkadian and Ugaritic, has disappeared everywhere in the many colloquial forms of Semitic languages. Modern Standard Arabic maintains such case distinctions, although they are typically lost in free speech due to colloquial influence. An accusative ending -n is preserved in Ethiopian Semitic. In the northwest, the scarcely attested Samalian reflects a case distinction in the plural between nominative -ū and oblique -ī (compare the same distinction in Classical Arabic). Additionally, Semitic nouns and adjectives had a category of state, the indefinite state being expressed by nunation.

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Number in nouns Semitic languages originally had three grammatical numbers: singular, dual, and plural. Classical Arabic still has a mandatory dual (i.e. it must be used in all circumstances when referring to two entities), marked on nouns, verbs, adjectives and pronouns. Many contemporary dialects of Arabic still have a dual, as in the name for the nation of Bahrain ( baħr "sea" + -ayn "two"), although it is marked only on nouns. It also occurs in Hebrew in a few nouns ( šana means "one year", šnatayim means "two years", and šanim means "years"), but for those it is obligatory. The curious phenomenon of .g. in Arabic, sadd "one dam" vs. sudūd "dams"found most profusely in the languages of Arabia and Ethiopia, may be partly of proto-Semitic origin, and partly elaborated from simpler origins.

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Verb aspect and tense

+ Paradigm of a regular Classical Arabic verb: Form I "to write"

All Semitic languages show two quite distinct styles of morphology used for conjugating verbs. Suffix conjugations take suffixes indicating the person, number and gender of the subject, which bear some resemblance to the pronominal suffixes used to indicate direct objects on verbs ("I saw him") and possession on nouns (" his dog"). So-called prefix conjugations actually takes both prefixes and suffixes, with the prefixes primarily indicating person (and sometimes number or gender), while the suffixes (which are completely different from those used in the suffix conjugation) indicate number and gender whenever the prefix does not mark this. The prefix conjugation is noted for a particular pattern of prefixes where (1) a t- prefix is used in the singular to mark the second person and third-person feminine, while a y- prefix marks the third-person masculine; and (2) identical words are used for second-person masculine and third-person feminine singular. The prefix conjugation is extremely old, with clear analogues in nearly all the families of Afroasiatic languages (i.e. at least 10,000 years old). The table on the right shows examples of the prefix and suffix conjugations in Classical Arabic, which has forms that are close to Proto-Semitic.

In Proto-Semitic, as still largely reflected in East Semitic, prefix conjugations are used both for the past and the non-past, with different vocalizations. Cf. Akkadian niprus "we decided" (preterite), niptaras "we have decided" (perfect), niparras "we decide" (non-past or imperfect), vs. suffix-conjugated parsānu "we are/were/will be deciding" (stative). Some of these features, e.g. gemination indicating the non-past/imperfect, are generally attributed to Afroasiatic. Proto-Semitic had an additional form, the jussive, which was distinguished from the preterite only by the position of stress: the jussive had final stress while the preterite had non-final (retracted) stress.

The West Semitic languages significantly reshaped the system. The most substantial changes occurred in the Central Semitic languages (the ancestors of modern Hebrew, Arabic and Aramaic). Essentially, the old prefix-conjugated jussive or preterite became a new non-past (or imperfect), while the stative became a new past (or perfect), and the old prefix-conjugated non-past (or imperfect) with gemination was discarded. New suffixes were used to mark different moods in the non-past, e.g. Classical Arabic -u (indicative), -a (subjunctive), vs no suffix (jussive). It is not generally agreed whether the systems of the various Semitic languages are better interpreted in terms of tense, i.e. past vs. non-past, or aspect, i.e. perfect vs. imperfect. A special feature in classical Hebrew is the waw-consecutive, prefixing a verb form with the letter waw in order to change its tense or Lexical aspect. The South Semitic languages show a system somewhere between the East and Central Semitic languages.

Later languages show further developments. In the modern varieties of Arabic, for example, the old mood suffixes were dropped, and new mood prefixes developed (e.g. bi- for indicative vs. no prefix for subjunctive in many varieties). In the extreme case of Neo-Aramaic, the verb conjugations have been entirely reworked under Iranian influence.

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Morphology: triliteral roots All Semitic languages exhibit a unique pattern of stems called consisting typically of triliteral, or three-consonant consonantal roots (two- and four-consonant roots also exist), from which nouns, adjectives, and verbs are formed in various ways (e.g., by inserting vowels, doubling consonants, lengthening vowels or by adding prefixes, suffixes, or ).

For instance, the root K-T-B (dealing with "writing" generally) yields in Arabic:

ka ta btu كَتَبْتُ or كتبت "I wrote" (f and m)

yu kta b(u) يُكْتَب or يكتب "being written" (masculine)

tu kta b(u) تُكتَب or تكتب "being written" (feminine)

yata kā ta būn(a) يَتَكَاتَبُونَ or يتكاتبون "they write to each other" (masculine)

isti ktā b اِستِكتاب or استكتاب "causing to write"

k it āb كِتَاب or كتاب "book" (the hyphen shows end of stem before various case endings)

k ut ayyib كُتَيِّب or كتيب "booklet" (diminutive)

ki tā bat كِتَابَة or كتابة "writing"

k utt āb كُتاب or كتاب "writers" (broken plural)

ka ta bat كَتَبَة or كتبة "clerks" (broken plural)

ma kta b مَكتَب or مكتب "desk" or "office"

ma kta bat مَكتَبة or مكتبة "library" or "bookshop"

ma ktū b مَكتوب or مكتوب "written" (participle) or "postal letter" (noun)

ka tī bat كَتيبة or كتيبة "squadron" or "document"

i kti tā b اِكتِتاب or اكتتاب "registration" or "contribution of funds"

mu kta tib مُكتَتِب or مكتتب "subscription"

and the same root in Hebrew:

kā ṯa ḇti כתבתי or כָּתַבְתִּי "I wrote"

k att āḇ כתב or כַּתָּב "reporter" ( m)

ka tte ḇeṯ כתבת or כַּתָּבֶת "reporter" ( f)

k att āḇ ā כתבה or כַּתָּבָה "article" (plural ka ttā ḇōṯ כתבות)

mi ḵtā ḇ מכתב or מִכְתָּב "postal letter" (plural mi ḵtā ḇīm מכתבים)

mi ḵtā ḇā מכתבה "writing desk" (plural mi ḵtā ḇōṯ מכתבות)

k əṯ ōḇ eṯ כתובת "address" (plural kə ṯō ḇōṯ כתובות)

k əṯ āḇ כתב "handwriting"

k āṯ ūḇ כתוב "written" ( f kə ṯū ḇā כתובה)

hi ḵtī ḇ הכתיב "he dictated" ( f hi ḵtī ḇā הכתיבה)

hiṯ ka ttē ḇ התכתב "he corresponded ( f hiṯ ka ttə ḇā התכתבה)

ni ḵta ḇ נכתב "it was written" ( m)

ni ḵtə ḇā נכתבה "it was written" ( f)

k əṯ īḇ כתיב "spelling" ( m)

ta ḵtī ḇ תכתיב "prescript" ( m)

m ə 'ḵu ttā ḇ מכותב "addressee" (meḵ utt eḇ 'eṯ מכותבת f)

kə ṯu bbā כתובה "ketubah (a Jewish marriage contract)" ( f)

(Underlined consonants , , represent the /x/, /θ/, /v/ respectively.)

In Tigrinya and Amharic, this root was used widely but is now seen as an archaic form. Ethiopic-derived languages use different roots for things that have to do with writing (and in some cases counting). The primitive root ṣ-f and the trilateral root stems m-ṣ-f, ṣ-h-f, and ṣ-f-r are used. This root also exists in other Semitic languages, such as Hebrew: sep̄er "book", sofer "scribe", mispār "number", and sippūr "story". This root also exists in Arabic and is used to form words with a close meaning to "writing", such as ṣaḥāfa "journalism", and ṣaḥīfa "newspaper" or "parchment". Verbs in other non-Semitic Afroasiatic languages show similar radical patterns, but more usually with biconsonantal roots; e.g. Kabyle language afeg means "fly!", while affug means "flight", and yufeg means "he flew" (compare with Hebrew, where hap̄lēḡ means "set sail!", hap̄lāḡā means "a sailing trip", and hip̄līḡ means "he sailed", while the unrelated ʕūp̄, təʕūp̄ā, and ʕāp̄ pertain to flight).

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Independent personal pronouns

I			أنا	, anā,	አነ	אנכי, אני	אנא		,
You (sg., masc.)			أنت	, ant, inta, inte, inti, int, (i)nta	አንተ	אתה	אנת	, ,	,
You (sg., fem.)			أنت	ʔanti, anti, (i)nti, intch	አንቲ	את	אנת	, ,	,
He			هو , hū	, hū	ውእቱ	הוא	הוא		,
She			هي , hī	, hī	ይእቲ	היא	היא		,
We			نحن	niħna, iħna, ħinna	ንሕነ	אנו, אנחנו	נחנא
You (dual)			أنتما	Plural form is used
They (dual)			هما	Plural form is used
You (pl., masc.)			أنتم ,	, antum, antu, , (i)ntūma	አንትሙ	אתם	אנתן
You (pl., fem.)			أنتنّ	, antin, , antu, , (i)ntūma	አንትን	אתן	אנתן
They (masc.)			هم ,	hum, , hūma, hom, hinne(n)	እሙንቱ	הם, המה	הנן
They (fem.)			هنّ	hin, hinne(n), hum, humma, hūma	እማንቱ	הן, הנה	הנן

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Cardinal numerals

One			واحد، أحد	אחד ,			wieħed	አሐዱ ʾäḥädu
Two	(nom.), (obl.),		اثنان (nom.), اثنين (obj.), اثنتان fem. iθnat-āni, اثنتين iθnat-ajni	שנים , fem. שתים			tnejn	ክልኤቱ kəlʾetu
Three	>		ثلاث	fem. שלוש			tlieta	ሠለስቱ śälästu
Four			أربع	fem. ארבע			erbgħa	አርባዕቱ ʾärbaʿtu
Five			خمس	fem. חמש			ħamsa	ኀምስቱ ḫämsətu
Six			ستّ (ordinal سادس )	fem. שש			sitta	ስድስቱ sədsətu
Seven			سبع	fem. שבע			sebgħa	ሰብዐቱ säbʿätu
Eight			ثماني	fem. שמונה			tmienja	ሰማንቱ sämantu
Nine			تسع	fem. תשע			disgħa	ተስዐቱ täsʿätu
Ten			عشر	fem. עשר			għaxra	ዐሠርቱ ʿäśärtu

These are the basic numeral stems without feminine suffixes. In most older Semitic languages, the forms of the numerals from 3 to 10 exhibit polarity of gender (also called "chiastic concord" or "reverse agreement"), i.e. if the counted noun is masculine, the numeral would be feminine and vice versa.

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Typology Some early Semitic languages are speculated to have had weak ergative features.;

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Common vocabulary Due to the Semitic languages' common origin, they share some words and roots. Others differ. For example:

father									()
heart			()				ləbb		()
house			()						()
peace
tongue							ləssān
water

Terms given in brackets are not derived from the respective Proto-Semitic roots, though they may also derive from Proto-Semitic (as does e.g. Arabic dār, cf. Biblical Hebrew dōr "dwelling").

Sometimes, certain roots differ in meaning from one Semitic language to another. For example, the root b-y-ḍ in Arabic has the meaning of "white" as well as "egg", whereas in Hebrew it only means "egg". The root l-b-n means "milk" in Arabic, but the color "white" in Hebrew. The root l-ḥ-m means "meat" in Arabic, but "bread" in Hebrew and "cow" in Ethiopian Semitic; the original meaning was most probably "food". The word medina (root: d-y-n/ d-w-n) has the meaning of "metropolis" in Amharic, "city" in Arabic and Ancient Hebrew, and "State" in Modern Hebrew.

There is sometimes no relation between the roots. For example, "knowledge" is represented in Hebrew by the root y-d-ʿ, but in Arabic by the roots ʿ-r-f and ʿ-l-m and in Ethiosemitic by the roots ʿ-w-q and f-l-ṭ.

For more comparative vocabulary lists, see the Wiktionary appendix .

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Classification are six fairly uncontroversial nodes within the Semitic languages: East Semitic, Northwest Semitic, North Arabian, Old South Arabian (also known as Sayhadic), Modern South Arabian, and Ethiopian Semitic. These are generally grouped further, but there is ongoing debate as to which belong together. The classification based on shared innovations given below, established by Robert Hetzron in 1976 and with later emendations by John Huehnergard and Rodgers as summarized in Hetzron 1997, is the most widely accepted today. In particular, several Semiticists still argue for the traditional (partially nonlinguistic) view of Arabic as part of South Semitic, and a few (e.g. Alexander Militarev or the German-Egyptian professor Arafa Hussein Mustafa) see Modern South Arabian as a third branch of Semitic alongside East and West Semitic, rather than as a subgroup of South Semitic. However, a new classification groups Old South Arabian as Central Semitic instead.

Roger Blench notes that the Gurage languages are highly divergent and wonders whether they might not be a primary branch, reflecting an origin of Afroasiatic in or near Ethiopia.

At a lower level, there is still no general agreement on where to draw the line between "languages" and "dialects"an issue particularly relevant in Arabic, Aramaic and Gurageand the strong mutual influences between Arabic dialects render a genetic subclassification of them particularly difficult.

A computational phylogenetic analysis by Kitchen et al. (2009) considers the Semitic languages to have originated in the Levant during the Early Bronze Age, with early Ethiosemitic originating from southern Arabia . Evidence for gene movements consistent with this were found in Almarri et al. (2021).

The Himyaritic and appear to have been Semitic, but are unclassified due to insufficient data.

Summary classification

• East Semitic
• West Semitic
• Central Semitic
• Northwest Semitic
• Arabic languages
• South Semitic
• Western: Ethiopian Semitic and Old South Arabian
• Eastern: Modern South Arabian

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Detailed list

• Semitic
• East Semitic (All extinct)
• Akkadian
• Old Akkadian
• Babylonian
• Assyrian
• Canaano-Akkadian
• Eblaite language
• Kishite
  (2025). 9780691137223, Princeton University Press. . ISBN 9780691137223
  Rebecca Hasselbach (2025). 9783447051729, Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. . ISBN 9783447051729
• Dilmunite ?
• West Semitic
• Central Semitic
• Northwest Semitic
• Aramaic
• Old Aramaic
• Samalian (extinct)
• Imperial Aramaic (extinct)
• Biblical Aramaic (extinct)
• Middle Aramaic
• Eastern Aramaic (dialect continuum)
• Eastern Middle Aramaic
• Syriac language
• Hatran Aramaic (extinct)
• Central Neo-Aramaic
• Turoyo language
• Mlaḥsô (extinct)
• Northeastern Neo-Aramaic (dialect continuum)
• Suret language
• Assyrian Neo-Aramaic
• Christian Urmi Neo-Aramaic
• Bohtan Neo-Aramaic
• Senaya Neo-Aramaic
• Chaldean Neo-Aramaic
• Koy Sanjaq Christian Neo-Aramaic
• Hertevin Neo-Aramaic
• Qaraqosh Neo-Aramaic
• Jewish Assyrian Neo-Aramaic
• Lishanid Noshan
• Barzani Jewish Neo-Aramaic
• Hulaulá
• Lishana Deni
• Lishán Didán
• Betanure Jewish Neo-Aramaic
• Koy Sanjaq Jewish Neo-Aramaic
• Southeastern Aramaic
• Mandaic language
• Neo-Mandaic
• Jewish Babylonian Aramaic (extinct)
• Western Aramaic (dialect continuum)
• Western Middle Aramaic
• Nabataean Aramaic (extinct)
• Palmyrene Aramaic (extinct)
• Western Neo-Aramaic
• Palestinian Aramaic (All extinct)
• Samaritan Aramaic
• Jewish Palestinian Aramaic
• Galilean dialect
• Christian Palestinian Aramaic
• Lebanese Aramaic (extinct)
• Armazic language (extinct)
• Canaanite
• North Canaanite
• Phoenician (extinct)
• Punic language (extinct)
• South Canaanite
• Ammonite (extinct)
• Moabite language (extinct)
• Edomite language (extinct)
• Biblical Hebrew
• Mishnaic Hebrew
• Medieval Hebrew
• Hebrew language (Modern Hebrew) (revived)
• Samaritan Hebrew (extinct (apart from modern liturgical uses))
• Ugaritic (extinct)
• Amorite language (extinct)
• Taymanitic ? (extinct)
• North Arabian
• Old Arabic
• Pre-classical Arabic
• Arabic
• Classical Arabic
• Modern Standard Arabic
• Mashriqi Arabic (Eastern Arabic) (dialect continuum)
• Peninsular Arabic (dialect continuum)
• Old Hijazi Arabic
• Hejazi Arabic
• Gulf Arabic
• Emirati Arabic
• Bahraini Gulf Arabic
• Kuwaiti Arabic
• Qatari Arabic
• Bahrani Arabic
• Omani Arabic
• Shihhi Arabic
• Dhofari Arabic
• Yemeni Arabic (dialect continuum)
• Hadhrami Arabic
• Indonesian Arabic
• Sanʽani Arabic
• Taʽizzi-Adeni Arabic
• Taʽizzi Arabic
• Adeni Arabic
• Djibouti Arabic
• Judeo-Yemeni Arabic
• Tihamiyya Arabic
• Zabidi dialect
• Yafi'i Arabic
• Northwest Arabian Arabic (Levantine Bedawi Arabic, Eastern Egyptian Bedawi Arabic)
• Najdi Arabic
• Bareqi Arabic
• Egypto-Sudanic Arabic (dialect continuum)
• Egyptian Arabic (dialect continuum)
• Judeo-Egyptian Arabic
• Saʽidi Arabic
• Egyptian Arabic
• Sudanese-Chadian Arabic (dialect continuum)
• Sudanese Arabic
• Chadian Arabic
• Levantine Arabic (dialect continuum)
• North Levantine Arabic
• Cilician Arabic
• Aleppo Arabic
• Damascus Arabic
• Judeo-Syrian Arabic
• Lebanese Arabic
• South Levantine Arabic
• Palestinian Arabic
• Modern Palestinian Judeo-Arabic
• Jordanian Arabic
• Mesopotamian Arabic/Iraqi Arabic (dialect continuum)
• Gilit Dialects (dialect continuum)
• Baghdadi Arabic
• Shawi Arabic
• Khuzestani Arabic
• South Mesopotamian Arabic
• Qeltu Dialects (dialect continuum)
• North Mesopotamian Arabic
• Anatolian Arabic
• Judeo-Iraqi Arabic
• Jewish Baghdadi Arabic
• Cypriot Arabic
• Central Asian Arabic (dialect continuum)
• Bakhtiari Arabic
• Bukharian Arabic
• Kashkadarian Arabic
• Khorasani Arabic
• Shirvani Arabic (extinct)
• Maghrebi Arabic (Western Arabic) (dialect continuum)
• Pre-Hilalian dialects
• Pre-Hilalian Urban Arabic dialects
• Fessi dialect
• Jebli Arabic
• Jijel Arabic
• Maghrebi Judeo-Arabic
• Judeo-Moroccan Arabic
• Judeo-Tripolitanian Arabic
• Judeo-Tunisian Arabic
• Judeo-Algerian Arabic
• Siculo-Arabic
• Maltese Language
• Cottonera Dialect
• Gozitan dialects
• Qormi dialect
• Żejtun dialect
• Maltralian
• Corfiot Maltese (extinct)
• Andalusi Arabic (extinct)
• Eastern pre-Hilali Dialects
• Tunisian Arabic
• Western pre-Hilali dialects
• Hilalian dialects
• Sulaym dialects
• Libyan Arabic
• Western Egyptian Bedawi Arabic
• Eastern Hilali dialects
• Central Hilali dialects
• Algerian Saharan Arabic
• Western Hilali dialects
• Maqil dialects
• Hassaniya Arabic
• Koines
• Algerian Arabic
• Moroccan Arabic
• ˀAzd dialect (extinct)
• Huḏayl dialect (extinct)
• Ṭayyiˀ dialect (extinct)
• Safaitic (extinct)
• Hismaic (extinct)
• Hasaitic (extinct)
• Nabataean Arabic (extinct)
• Dadanitic ? (extinct)
• Thamudic ? (extinct)
• South Semitic
• Western South Semitic
• Ethiopic
• North Ethiopic
• Geʽez (Classical Ethiopic)
• Dahalik language
• Tigre language
• Tigrinya
• South Ethiopic
• Transversal South Ethiopic
• Amharic–Argobba
• Amharic
• Argobba language
• Harari–East Gurage
• Harari language
• East Gurage
• Silt'e
• Zay language
• Outer South Ethiopic
• n-group
• Gafat language (extinct)
• Soddo language
• tt-group
• Mesmes language (extinct)
• Muher language
• West Gurage
• Mesqan language
• Sebat Bet
• Sebat Bet Gurage
• Inor language
• Old South Arabian (Ṣayhadic)
• Sabaic (extinct)
• Minaean language (extinct)
• Qatabanian (extinct)
• Awsānian (extinct)
• Hadramautic (extinct)
• Razihi language ?
• Faifi language ?
• Himyaritic ? (extinct)
• Modern South Arabian (Eastern South Semitic)
• Baṭḥari
• Ḥarsusi
• Hobyót
• Mehri language
• Shehri language
• Soqotri language
• Unclassified
• Sutean language (extinct)

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See also

• Proto-Semitic language
• Middle Bronze Age alphabets
• Semitic studies

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Notes

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Bibliography

• (1997). 9781575060200, Penn State University Press. . ISBN 9781575060200
• (2025). 9780520255609, University of California Press. . ISBN 9780520255609
• Martin F. J. Baasten (2025). 9789042912151, Peeters. ISBN 9789042912151
• Patrick R. Bennett (1998). 9781575060217, Eisenbrauns. ISBN 9781575060217
• Joshua Blau (2025). 9781575061290, Eisenbrauns. ISBN 9781575061290
• Eleanor Coghill (2025). 9780198723806, Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780198723806
• Sebastian Brock (1998). 9780521850735, Cambridge University Press. . ISBN 9780521850735
• Joseph H. Greenberg (1999). 9780198238669, Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780198238669
• Gotthelf Bergsträsser (1995). 9780931464102, Eisenbrauns. ISBN 9780931464102
• Gideon Goldenberg (2025). 9780199644919, Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199644919
• Jo Ann Hackett (2025). 9780080877754, Elsevier. ISBN 9780080877754
• Robert Hetzron (1997). 9780415057677, Routledge. . ISBN 9780415057677
• (2025). 9781315644936, Routledge. . ISBN 9781315644936
• (1997). 9780415057677, Routledge. . ISBN 9780415057677
• George Anton Kiraz (2025). 9780521631969, Cambridge University Press. . ISBN 9780521631969
• Leonid Kogan (2025). 9783110251586, Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 9783110251586
• Marion Leathers Kuntz (1981). 9789024725236, Nijhoff. . ISBN 9789024725236
• Leonid Kogan (2025). 9783110251586, Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 9783110251586
• Donald N. Levine (2025). 9780226229676, University of Chicago Press. . ISBN 9780226229676
• Edward Lipiński (2025). 9789042908154, Peeters. ISBN 9789042908154
• Mustafa, Arafa Hussein. 1974. Analytical study of phrases and sentences in epic texts of Ugarit. (German title: Untersuchungen zu Satztypen in den epischen Texten von Ugarit). Dissertation. Halle-Wittenberg: Martin-Luther-University.
• Norbert Nebes (2025). 9783447052382, Harrassowitz. ISBN 9783447052382
• Jonathan Owens (2025). 9780199344093, Oxford University Press. . ISBN 9780199344093
• (2025). 9781846158735, Boydell & Brewer. . ISBN 9781846158735
• Merritt Ruhlen (1991). 9780804718943, Stanford University Press. . ISBN 9780804718943
• Francisco del Río Sánchez (2025). 9788469578292, Oriens Academic. . ISBN 9788469578292
• J. R. Smart (2025). 9781136788123, Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9781136788123
• Kees Versteegh (1997). 9780231111522, Columbia University Press. . ISBN 9780231111522
• (1990). 9780931464317, Eisenbrauns. . ISBN 9780931464317
• Janet C. E. Watson (2025). 9780198241379, Oxford University Press. . ISBN 9780198241379
• 2002

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External links

• Semitic genealogical tree (as well as the Afroasiatic one), presented by Alexander Militarev at his talk "Genealogical classification of Afro-Asiatic languages according to the latest data" (at the conference on the 70th anniversary of Vladislav Illich-Svitych, Moscow, 2004; short annotations of the talks given there
• Pattern-and-root inflectional morphology: the Arabic broken plural
• Ancient snake spell in Egyptian pyramid may be oldest Semitic inscription
• Alexis Neme and Sébastien Paumier (2019), Restoring Arabic vowels through omission-tolerant dictionary lookup, Lang Resources & Evaluation, Vol 53, 1–65 pages
• (from Wiktionary's )

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