semitic – מילון אנגלי-אנגלי
Semitic
adj.
pertaining to the Semites; pertaining to the languages of the Semites; Jewish
n.
family of languages spoken by Semitic peoples (includes Hebrew, Arabic, Aramaic, Akkadian, Ethiopic, and Phoenician)
Semitic
The term
Semitic or
Semite most commonly refers to the
Semitic languages, a language family currently present in West Asia, North and East Africa, and Malta
Semitic
Noun
1. a major branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family
(hypernym) Afroasiatic, Afro-Asiatic, Afroasiatic language, Afrasian, Afrasian language, Hamito-Semitic
(hyponym) Akkadian
Adjective
1. of or relating to the group of Semitic languages; "Semitic tongues have a complicated morphology"
(pertainym) Semitic
2. of or relating to or characteristic of Semites; "Semite peoples"
(synonym) Semite
(pertainym) Semite
Semitic
(a.)
Of or pertaining to Shem or his descendants; belonging to that division of the Caucasian race which includes the Arabs, Jews, and related races.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), edited by Noah Porter.
About
Semitic
Semitic, Semites; Shemitic, Shemites Applied to a group of Asiatic and African languages, including Hebrew, Phoenician, Aramaic, Arabic, and Ethiopic, some of which are no longer spoken tongues. It was believed that the races speaking these languages were descended from the Biblical Shem (son of Noah), hence they were termed Shemites or Semites. Theosophy maintains that there is no fundamental racial division between the Aryans and the Semites, inasmuch as the latter are in fact later Aryans, belonging to the very earliest of the so-called Aryan racial strains although somewhat later in appearance than what is now called the Aryan stock. "The Aryan Hindu belongs to the oldest races now on earth; the Semite Hebrew to the latest. One is nearly one million years old; the other is a small sub-race some 8,000 years old and no more" (SD 2:470-1). Further, the Semites (which include the Jews) are the descendants of the primordial "red ancestors" (the red Adam) -- as narrated in the Hebrew Genesis: red here referring to the slow changing of human complexions, as a race evolves from the earliest light or moon-colored through various darker shades or tints until the chocolate or black is reached.
