Semitic languages

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Western Asia, North Africa,
Northeast Africa, Malta
Linguistic classification: Afro-Asiatic
  • Semitic
Proto-language: Proto-Semitic
ISO 639-2 / 5: sem
Glottolog: semi1276[1]
Approximate historical distribution of Semitic languages.
14th century BC diplomatic letter in Akkadian, found in Amarna, Egypt .

The Semitic languages are a language family originating in the Near East whose living representatives are spoken by more than 470 million people across much of Western Asia, North Africa and the Horn of Africa, as well as in large expatriate communities in North America and Europe. They constitute a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. The most widely spoken Semitic languages today are (numbers given are for native speakers only) Arabic (300 million),[2] Amharic (21.8 million),[3] Hebrew (7 million),[4][5][6] Tigrinya (6.7 million),[7] and Aramaic (550,000).

Semitic languages are attested in written form from a very early date, with Akkadian and Eblaite texts (written in a script adapted from Sumerian cuneiform) appearing from around the middle of the third millennium BC in Mesopotamia and the northern Levant respectively. However, most scripts used to write Semitic languages are abjads — a type of alphabetic script that omits some or all of the vowels, which is feasible for these languages because the consonants in the Semitic languages are the primary carriers of meaning. Among them are the Ugaritic, Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic, and South Arabian alphabets. The Ge'ez alphabet, 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. Maltese is the only Semitic language written in the Latin script and the only official Semitic language of the European Union.

The Semitic languages are notable for their nonconcatenative morphology. That is, word roots are not themselves syllables or words, but instead are isolated sets of consonants (usually three, making a so-called triliteral root). Words are composed out of 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 additional consonants, e.g. kitāb "book", kutub "books", kātib "writer", kuttāb "writers", kataba "he wrote", yaktubu "he writes", etc.


The German orientalists August Ludwig von Schlözer[8] and Johann Gottfried Eichhorn[9] first coined the name "Semitic" in the late 18th century to designate the languages closely related to Arabic, Aramaic, and Hebrew.[8]

Schlözer derived the name from Shem, one of the three sons of Noah in the genealogical accounts of the biblical Book of Genesis,[8] or more precisely from the Greek rendering of the name, Σημ (Sēm).

Before Schlözer these languages had been known as the Oriental languages in European literature.[8][9] In the 19th century, Semitic became the conventional name; however, an alternative name: Syro-Arabian languages was introduced and used by some writers.[9]



John Kitto, A Cyclopædia of Biblical Literature (1845).[9]



Main article: Proto-Semitic
11th-century manuscript of the Hebrew Bible with Targum
Page from a 15th-century Bible in Ge'ez (Ethiopia & Eritrea)

The Semitic family is a member of the larger Afroasiatic family, all of whose other five or more branches have their origin in North Africa and North East Africa. Largely for this reason, the ancestors of Proto-Semitic speakers were originally believed by some to have first arrived in the Middle East from North Africa, possibly as part of the operation of the Saharan pump, around the late Neolithic.[10][11] Diakonoff sees Semitic originating between the Nile Delta and Canaan as the northernmost branch of Afroasiatic. Blench even wonders whether the highly divergent Gurage languages indicate an origin in Ethiopia (with the rest of Ethiopic Semitic a later back migration).

A recent Bayesian analysis of alternative Semitic histories supports the former possibility and identifies an origin of Semitic languages in the Levant around 3,750 BC with a single introduction from southern Arabia into Africa around 800 BC.[12]

In one interpretation, Proto-Semitic itself is assumed to have reached the Arabian Peninsula by approximately the 4th millennium BC, from which Semitic daughter languages continued to spread outwards. When written records began in the late 4th millennium BC, the Semitic-speaking Akkadians (Assyrians/Babylonians) were entering Mesopotamia from the deserts to the west, and were probably already present in places such as Ebla in Syria. Akkadian personal names began appearing in written record in Mesopotamia from the late 29th Century BC.[13]

Semitic languages – Chronology

2nd millennium BC[edit]

By the late 3rd millennium BC, East Semitic languages, such as Akkadian and Eblaite, were dominant in Mesopotamia and north east Syria, while West Semitic languages, such as Amorite, Canaanite and Ugaritic, were probably spoken from Syria to the Arabian Peninsula, although Old South Arabian is considered by most people to be South Semitic despite the sparsity of data. The Akkadian language of Akkad, Assyria and Babylonia had become the dominant literary language of the Fertile Crescent, using the cuneiform script that was adapted from the Sumerians. The Middle Assyrian Empire, which originated in the 14th century BC, facilitated the use of Akkadian as a 'lingua franca' in many regions outside its homeland. The related, but more sparsely attested, Eblaite disappeared with the city, and Amorite is attested only from proper names in Mesopotamian records.

For the 2nd millennium, somewhat more data are available, thanks to the spread of an invention first used to capture the sounds of Semitic languages — the alphabet. Proto-Canaanite texts from around 1500 BC yield the first undisputed attestations of a West Semitic language (although earlier testimonies are possibly preserved in Middle Bronze Age alphabets), followed by the much more extensive Ugaritic tablets of northern Syria from around 1300 BC. Incursions of nomadic Semitic Aramaeans, and later still Chaldeans and Suteans, from the Syrian desert begin around this time. Akkadian continued to flourish, splitting into Babylonian and Assyrian dialects.

1st millennium BC[edit]

9th century Syriac manuscript

In the 1st millennium BC, the alphabet spread much further, giving us a picture not just of Canaanite, but also of Aramaic, Old South Arabian, and early Ge'ez. During this period, the case system, once vigorous in Ugaritic, seems to have started decaying in Northwest Semitic. Phoenician colonies (such as Carthage) spread their Canaanite language throughout much of the Mediterranean, while its close relative, Hebrew, became the vehicle of a religious literature, the Torah and Tanakh, which would have global ramifications. However, as an ironic result of the Assyrian Empire's vast conquests, Aramaic became the lingua franca of the Fertile Crescent and much of the Near East and parts of Asia Minor, gradually pushing Akkadian, Hebrew, Phoenician-Canaanite, and several other languages to extinction, although Hebrew and Akkadian remained in use as liturgical languages, Hebrew in particular developing a substantial literature. Ethiopian Semitic is attested by the 9th century BC, with the earliest proto-Ge'ez inscriptions of the kingdom of D'mt using the South Arabian alphabet.[14]

Common Era (AD)[edit]

Approximate distribution of Semitic languages around the 1st century
Arabic Calligraphy.

Syriac, an Assyrian Mesopotamian descendant of Aramaic used in North Eastern Syria, Assyria (Assuristan) and Mesopotamia, rose to importance as a literary language of early Christianity in the 3rd to 5th centuries and continued into the early Arab Islamic era.

With the emergence of Islam in the 7th century, the ascendancy of Aramaic was dealt a fatal blow by the Arab conquests, which made another Semitic language — Arabic — the official language of an empire stretching from Spain to Central Asia.

Page from a 12th-century Quran in Arabic

With the patronage of the caliphs and the prestige of its liturgical status, it 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,[15] the Fertile Crescent, and Egypt. Most of the Maghreb (Northwest Africa) followed, particularly in the wake of the Banu Hilal's incursion in the 11th century, and Arabic became the native language of many inhabitants of Spain. After the collapse of the Nubian kingdom of Dongola in the 14th century, Arabic began to spread south of Egypt; soon after, the Beni Ḥassān brought Arabization to Mauritania.


Present situation[edit]


Arabic languages are the native languages of majorities from Mauritania to Oman, and from Iraq to the Sudan. Classical Arabic is the language of the Qur'an, it is also studied widely in the non-Arabic-speaking Muslim world. Maltese language is genetically a descendant of the extinct Sicilian Arabic dialect. The Maltese alphabet is based on the Latin script with the addition of some letters with diacritic marks and digraphs. Maltese is the only Semitic official language of a nation state within the European Union.

Despite the ascendancy of Arabic in the Middle East, other Semitic languages still exist. Hebrew, long extinct as a colloquial language and in use only in Jewish literary, intellectual, and liturgical activity, was revived in spoken form at the end of the 19th century. It has become the main language of Israel, while remaining the language of liturgy and religious scholarship of Jews worldwide.

Several smaller ethnic groups, in particular the Christian ethnic Assyrians and Gnostic Mandeans, continue to speak and write Mesopotamian Aramaic dialects (especially Neo-Aramaic, descended from Syriac) in those areas roughly corresponding to Kurdistan (northern Iraq, northeast Syria, south eastern Turkey and northwestern Iran ) and the Caucasus. These dialects still contain a number of Akkadian loan words and have more structural commonality with the Akkadian language than Western Aramaic. Syriac itself, a descendant of Mesopotamian Old Aramaic, is used liturgically by Lebanese (the Maronites), Syrian and Assyrian Christians throughout Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Iran and Turkey.




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. This comparative approach is natural for the consonants, as sound correspondences among the consonants of the Semitic languages are very straightforward for a family of its time depth; for the vowels there are more subtleties.


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.



In languages exhibiting pharyngealization of emphatics, the original velar emphatic has rather developed to a uvular stop [q].

Proto-Semitic IPA Akkadian Ugaritic Phoenician Hebrew Modern
Aramaic Arabic1 Ge'ez Modern
South Arabian
*b b b b Phoenician beth.svg b ב /b6 /v/, /b/ ב /b6 ب b /b/ /b/
*d d d d Phoenician daleth.svg d ד /d6 /d/ ד /d6 د d /d/ /d/
*g ɡ g g Phoenician gimel.svg g ג /g6 /ɡ/ ג /g6 ج ǧ/g1 /ɡ/ /ɡ/
*p p p p Phoenician pe.svg p פ /p6 /f/, /p/ פ /p6 ف f /f/ /f/
*t t t t Phoenician taw.svg t ת /t6 /t/ ת /t6 ت t /t/ /t/
*k k k k Phoenician kaph.svg k כ /k6 /χ/, /k/ כ /k6 ك k /k/ /k/
*ṭ Phoenician teth.svg ט /t/ ט ط [tˤ] /tʼ/ /tʼ/
*ḳ q q q ק q /k/ ק q ق q /kʼ/ /kʼ/
*ḏ ð z > d Phoenician zayin.svg z ז z /z/ ז4 4/d ذ [ð] /z/ /ð/
*z z / dz z ז z ز z /z/
*ṯ θ š Phoenician sin.svg š שׁ š /ʃ/ ש4 4/t ث [θ] /s/ /θ/
ʃ š שׁ š س s /ʃ/, /h/
ɬ / שׂ2 ś2 /s/ שׂ4 ś4/s ش š [ʃ] /ɬ/ /ɬ/
*s s / ts s s Phoenician samekh.svg s ס s ס s س s /s/ /s/
*ṱ θʼ / tθʼ > ġ ṣ צ /ts/ צ4 ṯʼ 4/ ظ [ðˤ~zˤ] /tsʼ/ /θʼ/
*ṣ / tsʼ צ ص [sˤ] /sʼ/
*ṣ́ ɬʼ / tɬʼ ק4 *ġʼ 4/ʻ ض *[ɮˤ] > [dˤ]1 /ɬʼ/ /ɬʼ/
ʁ ġ,ʻ Phoenician ayin.svg /ʕ/ ע3 ʻ3 /ʔ/, - ע4 ġ4/ʻ غ ġ [ɣ~ʁ] /ʕ/ /ɣ/
ʕ -5 ʻ ע ʻ ع ʻ [ʕ] /ʕ/
ʔ ʼ Phoenician aleph.svg /ʔ/ א ʼ /ʔ/, - א ʼ ء ʼ [ʔ] /ʔ/ /ʔ/
*ḫ χ Phoenician heth.svg ח /χ/ ח4 4/ خ [x~χ] /χ/ /x/
*ḥ ħ -5 ח ح [ħ] /ħ/ /ħ/
*h h h Phoenician he.svg h ה h /h/, - ה h ه h /h/ /h/
*m m m m Phoenician mem.svg m מ m /m/ מ m م m /m/ /m/
*n n n n Phoenician nun.svg n נ n /n/ נ
ن n /n/ /n/
*r ɾ r r Phoenician res.svg r ר r /ʁ/ ר r ر r /r/ /r/
*l l l l Phoenician lamedh.svg l ל l /l/ ל l ل l /l/ /l/
*w w w w
Phoenician waw.svg
Phoenician yodh.svg
/v/, /w/
و w /w/ /w/
*y j y y Phoenician yodh.svg y י y /j/ י y ي y [j] /j/ /j/
Proto-Semitic IPA Akkadian Ugaritic Phoenician Hebrew Modern Hebrew Aramaic Arabic Ge'ez Modern
South Arabian


  1. Arabic pronunciation is largely based on Modern Standard Arabic which differes from that of reconstructed Qur'anic Arabic of the 7th and 8th centuries CE.
  4. 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 *ḏ, *ṯ, *ṱ, , *ṣ́, and *ḫ — 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 z, š, , š, q, respectively, but later with d, t, , s, ʿ.[16][17] (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 *ḫ were always represented using the pharyngeal letters ʿ , but they are distinguished from the pharyngeals in the Demotic-script papyrus Amherst 63, written about 200 BC.[18] This suggests that these sounds, too, were distinguished in Old Aramaic language, but written using the same letters as they later merged with.
  5. These are only distinguished from the zero reflexes of *h, *ʔ by e-coloring adjacent *a, e.g. pS *ˈbaʕal-um 'owner, lord' > Akk. bēlu(m).[19]
  6. Hebrew and Aramaic underwent begadkefat spirantization at a certain point, whereby the stop sounds /b ɡ d p k t/ were softened to the corresponding fricatives [v ɣ ð f x θ] (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 /θ, ð/ disappeared in the 7th century BC,[20] and most likely occurred after the loss of Hebrew /χ, ʁ/ c. 200 BC.[nb 1] It is known to have occurred in Hebrew by the 2nd century.[21][contradictory] 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.[22] In Modern Hebrew, the distinction has a higher functional load due to the loss of gemination, although only the three fricatives /v χ f/ are still preserved (the fricative /x/ is pronounced /χ/ in modern Hebrew). (The others are pronounced like the corresponding stops, apparently under the influence of later non-native speakers whose native European tongues lacked the sounds /ɣ ð θ/ as phonemes.)
  7. In the Northwest Semitic languages, */w/ became */j/ at the beginning of a word, e.g. Hebrew yeled "boy" < *wald (cf. Arabic walad).
  8. There is evidence of a rule of assimilation of /y/ to the following coronal consonant in pre-tonic position, shared by Hebrew, Phoenician and Aramaic [23]

In addition to those in the table, Modern Hebrew has introduced the new phonemes /tʃ/, /dʒ/, /ʒ/ through borrowings.


Proto-Semitic Hebrew Aramaic Arabic Examples
Hebrew Aramaic Arabic meaning
*/ð/ *ḏ */z/ ז */d/ ד */ð/ ذ זהב
*/z/1 *z */z/ ז */z/ ز מאזנים
*/ʃ/ */ʃ/ שׁ */ʃ/ שׁ */s/ س שׁנה
*/θ/ *ṯ */t/ ת */θ/ ث שלוש
*/θʼ/1 *ṱ */sʼ/1 צ */tʼ/ ט */ðˤ/ ظ צל
*/ɬʼ/1 *ṣ́ */ʕ ע */ɮˤ/ ض ארץ
*/sʼ/1 *ṣ */sʼ/ צ */sˤ/ ص צרח
'water melon like plant'
*/χ/ *ḫ */ħ/ ח */ħ/ ח */χ/ خ חֲמִשָׁה
*/ħ/ *ḥ */ħ/ ح מלח
*/ʕ/ */ʕ/ ع עבד
*/ɬ/ */s/ שׂ */s/ שׂ */ʃ/ ش עשׂר ܥܣܪ عشر 'ten'
  1. possibly affricated (/dz/ /tɬʼ/ /ʦʼ/ /tθʼ/ /tɬ/)


Proto-Semitic vowels are, in general, harder to deduce due to the templatic nature 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)[24]
pS Hebrew Aramaic Arabic Ge'ez Akkadian
/ˈ_.1 /ˈ_Cː2 /ˈ_C.C3 usually4 /_C.ˈV
*a ā a e a ə a a a, e, ē5
*i ē e ē e, i,
WSyr. ɛ
ə i ə i
*u ō o ō u, o ə u ə, ʷə6 u
ō[nb 2] ā ā ā ā, ē
ī ī ī ī ī
ū ū ū ū ū
*ay. ayi, ay, e BA, JA ay(i), ē,
WSyr. ay/ī & ay/ē
ay ay, ē ī
*aw. ō,
pausal ˈāwe
WSyr. aw/ū
aw ō ū
  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
  6. I.e. pS *g,*k,*ḳ,*χ > Ge'ez gʷ,kʷ,ḳʷ,χʷ / _u

Correspondence of sounds with other Afroasiatic languages[edit]

See table at Proto-Afroasiatic language#Consonant correspondences.


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.

Word order[edit]


Cases in nouns and adjectives[edit]

The proto-Semitic three-case system (nominative, accusative and genitive) 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 often lost in free speech (due to colloquial influence). An accusative ending -n is preserved in Ethiopian Semitic.[26] The archaic Samalian dialect of Old Aramaic reflects a case distinction in the plural between nominative and oblique (compare the same distinction in Classical Arabic).[16][27] Additionally, Semitic nouns and adjectives had a category of state, the indefinite state being expressed by nunation.

Number in nouns[edit]


Verb aspect and tense[edit]

Paradigm of a regular Classical Arabic verb:
Form I kataba (yaktubu) "to write"
Past Present
1st katab-tu كَتَبْتُ ʼa-ktub-u أَكْتُبُ
2nd masculine katab-ta كَتَبْتَ ta-ktub-u تَكْتُبُ
feminine katab-ti كَتَبْتِ ta-ktub-īna تَكْتُبِينَ
3rd masculine katab-a كَتَبَ ya-ktub-u يَكْتُبُ
feminine katab-at كَتَبَتْ ta-ktub-u تَكْتُبُ
2nd masculine
& feminine
katab-tumā كَتَبْتُمَا ta-ktub-āni تَكْتُبَانِ
3rd masculine katab كَتَبَا ya-ktub-āni يَكْتُبَانِ
feminine katab-atā كَتَبَتَا ta-ktub-āni تَكْتُبَانِ
1st katab-nā كَتَبْنَا na-ktub-u نَكْتُبُ
2nd masculine katab-tum كَتَبْتُمْ ta-ktub-ūna تَكْتُبُونَ
feminine katab-tunna كَتَبْتُنَّ ta-ktub-na تَكْتُبْنَ
3rd masculine katab كَتَبُوا ya-ktub-ūna يَكْتُبُونَ
feminine katab-na كَتَبْنَ ya-ktub-na يَكْتُبْنَ



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 and/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.) However, in Hebrew, elements of the old system survived alongside the new system for a while, in forms known as the waw-consecutive and marked with a prefixed w-. The South Semitic languages show a system somewhere between the East and Central Semitic languages.


Morphology: triliteral roots[edit]

Main article: Semitic root



kataba كَتَبَ or كتب "he wrote" (masculine)
katabat كَتَبَت or كتبت "she wrote" (feminine)
kutiba كُتِبَ or كتب "it was written" (masculine)
kutibat كُتِبَت or كتبت "it was written" (feminine)
katabū كَتَبُوا or كتبوا "they wrote" (masculine)
katabna كَتَبْنَ or كتبن "they wrote" (feminine)
katab كَتَبْنَا or كتبنا "we wrote" (f and m)
yaktubna يَكْتُبْنَ or يكتبن "they write" (feminine)
taktubna تَكْتُبْنَ or تكتبن "you write" (feminine)
yukātib(u) ##### or يكاتب "he exchanges (with sb.)"
kutub كُتُب or كتب "books" (plural)
kutayyib كُتَيِّب or كتيب "booklet" (diminutive)
kitābat كِتَابَة or كتابة "writing"
kātib كاتِب or كاتب "writer" (masculine)
kātibat كاتِبة or كاتبة "writer" (feminine)
kātibāt كاتِبات or كاتبات "writers" (feminine)
kuttāb كُتاب or كتاب "writers" (broken plural)
katabat كَتَبَة or كتبة "clerks" (broken plural)
maktab مَكتَب or مكتب "desk" or "office"
makātib مَكاتِب or مكاتب "desks" or "offices"
maktabat مَكتَبة or مكتبة "library" or "bookshop"
katībat كَتيبة or كتيبة "squadron" or "document"
katā’ib كَتائِب or كتائب "squadrons" or "documents"
muktatib مُكتَتِب or مكتتب "subscription"
istiktāb اِستِكتاب or استكتاب "causing to write"

and the same root in Hebrew:

kāati כתבתי "I wrote"
kāa כתבת "you (m) wrote"
kāa כתב "he wrote"
kattā כתב "reporter" (m)
katteeṯ כתבת "reporter" (f)
kattāā כתבה "article" (plural kattāōṯ כתבות)
miḵtā מכתב "postal letter" (plural miḵtāīm מכתבים)
miḵtāā מכתבה "writing desk" (plural miḵtāōṯ מכתבות)
kəṯōeṯ כתובת "address" (plural kəōōṯ כתובות)
kəṯā כתב "handwriting"
kāū כתוב "written" (f kəṯūā כתובה)
hiḵtī הכתיב "he dictated" (f hiḵtīā הכתיבה)
hiṯkattē התכתב "he corresponded (f hiṯkattəā התכתבה)
niḵta נכתב "it was written" (m)
niḵtəā נכתבה "it was written" (f)
kəṯī כתיב "spelling" (m)
taḵtī תכתיב "prescript" (m)
uttā מכותב "addressee" (meutteeṯ מכותבת f)
kəubbā כתובה "ketubah (a Jewish marriage contract)" (f)


Independent personal pronouns[edit]

English Proto-Semitic Akkadian Arabic Ge'ez Hebrew Aramaic
standard vernaculars
I *ʔanāku,[nb 3] *ʔaniya anāku ʔanā ana, āni, āna ʔana ʔānōḵī, ʔănī ʔanā
You (sg., masc.) *ʔanka > *ʔanta atta ʔanta inta, inti ʔánta ʔattā ʔantā
You (sg., fem.) *ʔanti atti ʔanti inti, init ʔánti ʔatt ʔanti
He *suʔa šū huwa huwwa, huwwe wəʔətu hu
She *siʔa šī hiya hiyya, hiyye yəʔəti hi
We *niyaħnū, *niyaħnā nīnu naħnu iħna, niħna nəħnā ʔānū, ʔănaħnū náħnā
Ye (dual) *ʔantunā ʔantumā
They (dual) *sunā [nb 4] *sunī(ti) humā
Ye (pl., masc.) *ʔantunū attunu ʔantum intu, intum ʔantəmu ʔattem ʔantun
Ye (pl., fem.) *ʔantinā attina ʔantunna ʔantən ʔatten ʔanten
They (masc.) *sunū šunu hum(u) hum(ma), hinne ʔəmuntu hēm, hēmmā hinnun
They (fem.) *sinā šina hunna ʔəmāntu hēn, hēnnā hinnin

Cardinal numerals[edit]

English Proto-Semitic[29] IPA Arabic Hebrew Tigrinya Sabaean
One *ʼaḥad-, *ʻišt- ʔaħad, ʔiʃt waːħid-, ʔaħad- ʔɛˈħad ħade ʔḥd
Two *ṯin-ān (nom.), *ṯin-ayn (obl.), *kilʼ- θinaːn, θinajn, kilʔ iθn-āni (nom.), iθn-ajni (obj.), fem. iθnat-āni, iθnat-ajni ˈʃn-ajim, fem. ˈʃt-ajim klte *ṯny
Three *śalāṯ- > *ṯalāṯ-[nb 5] ɬalaːθ > θalaːθ θalaːθ- fem. ʃaˈloʃ seleste (Ge'ez śälas) *ślṯ
Four *ʼarbaʻ- ʔarbaʕ ʔarbaʕ- fem. ˈʔarbaʕ arbaʕte *ʼrbʻ
Five *ḫamš- χamʃ χams- fem. ˈħameʃ ħamuʃte *ḫmš
Six *šidṯ-[nb 6] ʃidθ sitt- (ordinal saːdis-) fem. ʃeʃ ʃduʃte *šdṯ/šṯ
Seven *šabʻ- ʃabʕ sabʕ- fem. ˈʃɛβaʕ ʃewʕate *šbʻ
Eight *ṯamāniy- θamaːnij- θamaːn-ij- fem. ʃǝˈmonɛ ʃemonte *ṯmny/ṯmn
Nine *tišʻ- tiʃʕ tisʕ- fem. ˈteʃaʕ tʃʕate *tšʻ
Ten *ʻaśr- ʕaɬr ʕaʃ(a)r- fem. ˈʕɛśɛr ʕaserte *ʻśr



Some early Semitic languages are speculated to have had weak ergative features.[30]

Common vocabulary[edit]


English Proto-Semitic Akkadian Arabic Aramaic Hebrew Ge'ez Mehri Maltese
father *ʼab- ab- ʼab- ʼaḇ-āʼ ʼāḇ ʼab ḥa-yb missier
heart *lib(a)b- libb- lubb- lebb-āʼ lēḇ(āḇ) libb ḥa-wbēb qalb
house *bayt- bītu, bētu bayt- bayt-āʼ báyiṯ, bêṯ bet beyt, bêt dar
peace *šalām- šalām- salām- šlām-āʼ šālôm salām səlōm sliem
tongue *lišān-/*lašān- lišān- lisān- leššān-āʼ lāšôn lissān əwšēn ilsien
water *may-/*māy- mû (root *mā-/*māy-) māʼ-/māy mayy-āʼ máyim māy ḥə-mō ilma

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: m-d-n) has the meaning of "metropolis" in Amharic and "city" in Arabic and Hebrew, but in Modern Hebrew it is usually used as "state".

Of course, 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 Wiktionary appendices:



The Himyaritic language appears to have been Semitic, but is unclassified due to insufficient data.

Living Semitic languages by number of speakers[edit]

Languages speakers
Arabic 300,000,000[2]
Amharic 21,800,000
Hebrew 7,000,000[4][5][6]
Tigrinya 6,700,000
Silt'e 830,000
Tigre 800,000
Sebat Bet Gurage 440,000
Maltese 371,900[31]
Inor 280,000
Soddo 250,000
Assyrian Neo-Aramaic 220,000[32]
Mehri 120,000[33]
Soqotri 64,000[34]
Turoyo 62,000[35]
Shehri 25,000[36]
Harari 21,283
Western Neo-Aramaic 15,000[37]
Hulaulá 10,000[38]
Lishana Deni 7,500[39]
Neo-Mandaic 5,000[40]
Lishán Didán 4,500[41]
Lishanid Noshan 2250[42]
Hértevin 1,000[43]
Koy Sanjaq Syriac 800[44]
Harsusi 600[45]
Senaya 500[46]
Bohtan Neo-Aramaic 499[47]
Bathari 200[48]
Hobyót 100[49]
Barzani Jewish Neo-Aramaic 20[50]
Major Arabic languages speakers
Egyptian 54,000,000[51]
Moroccan 30,000,000[52]
Algerian 28,000,000[53]
Saidi 19,000,000[54]
Sudanese 17,000,000[55]
Mesopotamian 15,100,000[56]
North Levantine 14,000,000[57]
Tunisian 11,000,000[58]
Najdi 10,000,000[59]
Sanaani 7,600,000[60]
Taizzi-Adeni 7,100,000[61]
North Mesopotamian 6,300,000[62]
South Levantine 6,200,000[63]
Hejazi 6,000,000[64]
Gulf 3,600,000[65]
Hassaniya 3,300,000[66]
Bedawi 1,700,000[67]
Chadian 1,100,000[68]

See also[edit]


  2. ^ see Canaanite shift
  6. ^ Lipiński, Edward, Semitic languages: outline of a comparative grammar . This root was also assimilated in various ways. For example, Hebrew reflects *šišš-, with total assimilation; Arabic reflects *šitt- in cardinal numerals, but less assimilated *šādiš- in ordinal numerals. Epigraphic South Arabian reflects original *šdṯ; Ugaritic has a form ṯṯ, in which the has been assimilated throughout the root.
  1. ^ Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). "Semitic". Glottolog 2.2. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. 
  2. ^ a b Jonathan, Owens (2013). The Oxford Handbook of Arabic Linguistics. Oxford University Press. p. 2. ISBN 0199344094. Retrieved 18 February 2014. 
  3. ^ Amharic, Ethnologue
  4. ^ a b "Natural Language Processing of Semitic Languages". Springer Science+Business Media. Retrieved 28 December 2013. 
  5. ^ a b "The differences between English and Hebrew". Frankfurt International School. Retrieved 2 November 2013. 
  6. ^ a b "Hebrew – UCL". University College London. Retrieved 2 November 2013. 
  7. ^ Ethnologue report for language code:tir
  9. ^ a b c d Kitto, John (1845). A Cyclopædia of Biblical Literature. London: W. Clowes and Sons. p. 192. 
  10. ^ Ehret, et al. (December 2004). " The Origins of Afroasiatic]". Science 306 (5702): 1680c. doi:10.1126/science.306.5702.1680c. PMID 15576591. 
  11. ^ McCall, Daniel F. (1998). "The Afroasiatic Language Phylum: African in Origin, or Asian?". Current Anthropology 39 (1): 139–44. doi:10.1086/204702. ISSN 0011-3204. .
  12. ^ Kitchen, A; Ehret, C; Assefa, S; Mulligan, C.J. (2009). "Bayesian phylogenetic analysis of Semitic languages identifies an Early Bronze Age origin of Semitic in the Near East". Proc Biol Sci. 276 (1668): 2703–10. doi:10.1098/rspb.2009.0408. PMC 2839953. PMID 19403539. 
  16. ^ a b "Old Aramaic (c. 850 to c. 612 BCE)". Retrieved 2011-08-22. 
  17. ^ "LIN325: Introduction to Semitic Languages. Common Consonant Changes". Archived from the original on 2006-08-21. Retrieved 2006-06-25. 
  19. ^ Dolgopolsky 1999, p. 35.
  20. ^ Dolgopolsky (1999:72)
  21. ^ Dolgopolsky (1999:73)
  22. ^ Blau (2010:78–81)
  23. ^ Garnier, Romain; Jacques, Guillaume (2012). "A neglected phonetic law: The assimilation of pretonic yod to a following coronal in North-West Semitic". Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 75.1: 135–145. doi:10.1017/s0041977x11001261. 
  24. ^ Dolgopolsky 1999, pp. 85–86.
  25. ^ Approaches to Language Typology by Masayoshi Shibatani and Theodora Bynon, page 157
  26. ^ Moscati, Sabatino (1958). "On Semitic Case-Endings". Journal of Near Eastern Studies 17 (2): 142–43. doi:10.1086/371454.  "In the historically attested Semitic languages, the endings of the singular noun-flexions survive, as is well known, only partially: in Akkadian and Arabic and Ugaritic and, limited to the accusative, in Ethiopic.
  27. ^ Hetzron, Robert. The Semitic Languages. p. 123. 
  28. ^ Robert Hetzron. "Biblical Hebrew" in The World's Major Languages.
  30. ^ Müller, Hans-Peter (1995). "Ergative Constructions In Early Semitic Languages". Journal of Near Eastern Studies 54: 261–271. doi:10.1086/373769. JSTOR 545846. .
  31. ^ Ethnologue report for Maltese, retrieved 2008-10-28
  32. ^ Assyrian Neo-Aramaic at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
  33. ^ Mehri at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
  34. ^ Soqotri language at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
  35. ^ Turoyo at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
  36. ^ Shehri language at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
  37. ^ Western Neo-Aramaic at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
  38. ^ Hulaulá language at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
  39. ^ Lishana Deni at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
  40. ^ Neo-Mandaic at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
  41. ^ Lishán Didán at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
  42. ^ Lishanid Noshan at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
  43. ^ Hértevin at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
  44. ^ Koy Sanjaq Syriac language at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
  45. ^ Harsusi language at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
  46. ^ Senaya language at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
  47. ^ Bohtan Neo-Aramaic at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
  48. ^ Bathari language at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
  49. ^ Hobyót language at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
  50. ^ Barzani Jewish Neo-Aramaic at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
  51. ^ Egyptian Arabic at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
  52. ^ Moroccan Arabic at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
  53. ^ Algerian Arabic at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
  54. ^ Sa'idi Arabic at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
  55. ^ Sudanese Arabic at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
  56. ^ Mesopotamian Arabic at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
  57. ^ North Levantine Arabic at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
  58. ^ Tunisian Arabic at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
  59. ^ Najdi Arabic at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
  60. ^ Sanaani Arabic at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
  61. ^ Ta'izzi-Adeni Arabic at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
  62. ^ North Mesopotamian Arabic at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
  63. ^ South Levantine Arabic at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
  64. ^ Hejazi Arabic at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
  65. ^ Gulf Arabic at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
  66. ^ Hassaniya Arabic at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
  67. ^ Bedawi Arabic at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
  68. ^ Chadian Arabic at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)

Additional reference literature[edit]

  • Ullendorff, Edward. 1955. The Semitic languages of Ethiopia: a comparative phonology. London: Taylor's (Foreign) Press.

External links[edit]