Today's Word "semitic"
Published in Vocabulary
semitic \seh-MI-tik\ (adjective) - Pertaining to the Semites: the Hebrew, Aramaic, Arabic, Ethiopic, and Assyrian peoples. Also pertaining to an Afro-Asiatic family of languages that includes Hebrew, Aramaic and modern Syriac, Amharic, Tigre, and others, all clearly sharing a common stock and origin.
"The on-going Middle Eastern conflict could be called more specifically a Semitic conflict, since it is among related Semitic peoples."
The adjective of the noun "Semite," the peoples speaking Semitic languages. According to Genesis 10 the Semites are the descendants of Noah's son, Shem, hence it was originally "shemites." The English word, however, derives directly from Late Latin "semiticus" in which the [sh] had been replaced by [s]. A Semitic person is a "Semite" and a "Semiticism" is a Semitic word or turn of phrase, as "algebra" (from Arabic) and "shibboleth" (from Hebrew) are Semiticisms in the English language. Hebrew and Arabic are sister languages (Hebrew shalom = Arabic salaam "peace"). Since World War II, however, when the people of Jewish descent were so severely persecuted, the term has been more closely associated with them than with their Arabic sisters and brothers. Now, "anti-Semitic" in the minds of most English-speakers refers to prejudice against Jews rather than against all Semitic peoples.
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