Semitic

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Se·mit·ic

(sə-mĭt′ĭk)

adj.

1. Of or relating to the Semites or their languages or cultures.

2. Of, relating to, or constituting a branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family that includes Arabic, Hebrew, Amharic, and Aramaic.

3. Jewish.

1. The Semitic languages.

2. Any of the Semitic languages.

[New Latin Sēmiticus, from Sēmita, Semite, from Late Latin Sēm, Shem, eponymous ancestor of the Semites, from Greek, from Hebrew Šēm.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Semitic

(sɪˈmɪtɪk) or less commonly

Shemitic

(Languages) a branch or subfamily of the Afro-Asiatic family of languages that includes Arabic, Hebrew, Aramaic, Amharic, and such ancient languages as Akkadian and Phoenician

adj

1. (Languages) denoting, relating to, or belonging to this group of languages

2. (Peoples) denoting, belonging to, or characteristic of any of the peoples speaking a Semitic language, esp the Jews or the Arabs

3. (Peoples) another word for Jewish

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

Se•mit•ic

(səˈmɪt ɪk)

n.

1. a family of languages, a branch of the Afroasiatic family, comprising a number of ancient and modern languages of SW Asia and Africa, as Akkadian, Aramaic, Hebrew, Arabic, and Amharic.

adj.

2. of or pertaining to the Semitic languages or their speakers.

[< New Latin sēmīticus=sēmīt(a) Semite + -icus -ic]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Noun	1.	Semitic - a major branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family Afrasian, Afrasian language, Afroasiatic, Afro-Asiatic, Afroasiatic language, Hamito-Semitic - a large family of related languages spoken both in Asia and Africa Akkadian - an ancient branch of the Semitic languages Amharic, Ethiopian language - the dominant and official language of Ethiopia; a Semitic language much influenced by the Cushitic language with which Amhara have been in close contact Arabic, Arabic language - the Semitic language of the Arabs; spoken in a variety of dialects Aramaic - a Semitic language originally of the ancient Arameans but still spoken by other people in southwestern Asia Maltese language, Malti, Maltese - the national language of the Republic of Malta; a Semitic language derived from Arabic but with many loan words from Italian, Spanish, and Norman-French Canaanitic, Canaanitic language - a group of Semitic languages
Adj.	1.	Semitic - of or relating to the group of Semitic languages; "Semitic tongues have a complicated morphology"
	2.	Semitic - of or relating to or characteristic of Semites; "Semite peoples" Semite

Translations

σημιτικός

semitico

Semitic

[sɪˈmɪtɪk] ADJ → semítico

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

Semitic

[sɪˈmɪtɪk]

adj [language] → sémitique

[people] → sémite

(= Jewish) → sémite

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

Semitic

adj → semitisch

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

Semitic

[sɪˈmɪtɪk] adj (language) → semitico/a; (people) → semita

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

References in classic literature ?

The teaching of the Semitic religions, "Do good to others that you may benefit at their hands," does not occur in their pages, nor any hints of sensuous delights hereafter.* In all the great Buddhist poems, of which the Shu Hsing Tsan Ching is the best example, there is the same deep sadness, the haunting sorrow of doom.

As counter-examples, there are numerous schools of Buddhism, some of which DO offer a type of heaven; and the Confucian ideal of reciprocity can easily be, and often has been, misinterpreted in the same way as Semitic religions.

View in context

"Hello, King o' Babylon," was Van Horn's greeting, for so he had named him because of fancied Semitic resemblance blended with the crude power that marked his visage and informed his bearing.

View in context

The Abyssinians themselves are a fine looking race of black men--tall, muscular, with fine teeth, and regular features, which incline distinctly toward Semitic mold--I refer to the full-blooded natives of Abyssinia.

View in context

Palestinians are Semitic for the same linguistic reason - they use a Semitic language.

A story that needs retelling

Part III, "Semitic," with thirteen papers, is as usual the largest section.

Akten des 7. internationalen Semitohamitistenkongresses, Berlin 2004

Two of them consider links between different Afroasiatic languages, but the others are devoted to Semitic languages.

Studies in semitic and afroasiatic linguistics presented to Gene B. Gragg

Linguists of Arabic and Semitic languages look at both case and mood in those languages, but mainly focus on case in Semitic and Afroasiatic, taking up controversial data, issues, arguments, and positions.

Case and Mood Endings in Semitic Languages - Myth or Reality?

He states, "As a matter of fact, there is no epigraphic evidence whatever for ghayn in Semitic until the LB texts of Ugarit, and it exists nowhere but in Ugaritic and the proto-Arabic language complex" (p.

A proper view of Arabic, Semitic, and more

In an early chapter "In Arabia Before Islam," he documents the centrality of early Christianity among Arabs and, with a keen if muted sense of pride, locates the heart of the Second Century in the original Semitic patriarchates.

The Arab Christian - A History in the Middle East

In a revision of his 2015 doctoral dissertation at Uppsala University, Sh|rs presents a synchronic, diachronic, and comparative investigation of the expression of standard negation in Semitic languages.

Historical Aspects of Standard Negation in Semitic

The attempt is successful and the result is a superb volume that will be of use to scholars within the fields of ancient Near Eastern studies, Semitic epigraphy, and Classics.