Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. (New York: Doubleday, 1992), 38 2 A. Mazar, Archaeology, 48-49. the 23rd century BC (see Sargon of Akkad) and Eblaite. Then they began to spread south to territories below the equator line. Today. Some of the oldest attested languages in the world, from the oldest civilizations, are in the family of the Afroasiatic languages. This is because Eblaite has both elements linguistically. Mother language of all languages. Please select which sections you would like to print: Corrections? Personal names from this early period, preserved in cuneiform records, provide an indirect picture of the western Semitic language Amorite. Get the best of Sporcle when you Go Orange.This ad-free experience offers more features, more stats, and more fun while also helping to support Sporcle. imperfect.) Mesopotamia, the western coast of the Ethiopian Semitic (also known as Ethiosemitic or Ethiopic, or in the past by a few linguists as Abyssinian due to geographyIgor Mikhailovich Diakonov: Nauka, Central Department of Oriental Literature, (1965) pp 12) is a language group which forms the Western branch of the South Semitic languages. In addition to the important position that it occupies in Arabic-speaking societies, literary Arabic exerts a major influence throughout the world as the medium of Islamic religion and civilization. Arabic is the official language of Algeria (with Tamazight), Bahrain, Chad (with French), Djibouti (with French), Egypt, Iraq (with Kurdish), Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania (where Arabic, Fula [Fulani], Soninke, and Wolof have the status of national languages), Morocco, Oman, the Palestinian Authority, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia (with Somali), Sudan (with English), Syria, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Archived. The best known of the ancient Canaanite languages, Classical Hebrew, is familiar chiefly through the scriptures and religious writings of ancient Judaism. Thank you for becoming a member. The voiceless, voiced, and emphatic sounds, The dental continuant or interdental sounds, The laryngeal, pharyngeal, and uvular sounds, The Northwest Semitic languages and Arabic, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Semitic-languages, Jewish Encyclopedia.com - Semitic Language, Semitic languages - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up). A hypothesis put forward by Professor Joseph Greenberg and his colleagues (Stanford University) holds that the original mother language developed in Africa among early Homo sapiens. In the Arabian Peninsula, written records date back to the middle of the 1st millennium bce. Map showing the distribution of Semitic (orange) and other Afro-Asiatic language speakers today. Together with other language sub-groupings such as Chadic, Berber, Nilotic, Omotic etc, the Semitic groups of languages are definitely African in origin. The 'traditional' family tree for Semitic languages places Arabic in the South Semitic group, with Ethiopian languages such as Amharic, ,and South Arabian languages. Semitic languages, languages that form a branch of the Afro-Asiatic language phylum. The most common example is the influence of Aramaic on some texts written in Jewish Koine Greek. Members of the Semitic group are spread throughout North Africa and Southwest Asia and have played preeminent roles in the linguistic and cultural landscape of the Middle East for more than 4,000 years. Eventually, Sumerian was eclipsed by Akkadian and other Semitic languages as the primary language of the Sumerians, although it was still used ceremonially until the 1st century CE. Semitic is the major branch of the Afro-Asiatic phylum. Can you pick the Semitic Languages on a Map? The Department of Semitic and Egyptian Languages and Literatures at Catholic University provides students with graduate level training in Ancient Near East and Christian Near East studies. The map of Arabia (on p. 757) is difficult to read. The Semitic Language Tree chart represents a variety of Semitic language scholars opinions. I gave 25 of my classmates a map and a list of 47 countries and asked them if they could show these countries on the map. - bantu semitic language - The prefix ba- specifically refers to people. Students on the master of arts level may specialize in Ancient Near Eastern studies (ANE) or Christian Near Eastern studies (CNE). 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