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Encyclopedia :
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Semitic languages |
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Semitic languagesThe Semitic languages are the northeastern subfamily of the Afro-Asiatic languages, and the only family of this group spoken in Asia.The most common Semitic languages spoken today are Arabic, Amharic, Hebrew, and Tigrinya. The term "Semitic" for these languages is etymologically a misnomer in some ways (see Semitic), but is the standard term in linguistics. The classification given below is probably the most widespread - following Robert Hetzron - but is still disputed; in particular, several Semitists still argue for the traditional view of Arabic as part of South Semitic, and a few (eg Alexander Militarev) see the South Arabian languages as a third branch of Semitic alongside East and West Semitic, rather than as a subgroup of South Semitic. The Eastern Semitic Languages Controversial (either East Semitic or Northwest Semitic): Eblaite language -- extinct The Central Semitic languagesNorthwest Semitic languagesSouth Central (Arabic) languagesThe South Semitic languagesWestern (within South Semitic)Eastern (within South Semitic)Common characteristicsThese languages all exhibit a pattern of words consisting of triconsonantal roots, with vowel changes, prefixes, and suffixes used to inflect them. For instance, in Hebrew: :gdl means "big" but is not a part of speech and not a word, just a root :gadol means "big" and is a masculine adjective :gdola means "big" (feminine adjective) :giddel means "he raised" (transitive verb) :gadal means "he grew" (intransitive verb) :higdil means "he magnified" (transitive verb) :magdelet means "magnifier" (lens)
The following list will provide some equivalent words in Semitic languages. 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. 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. Other Afro-Asiatic languages show similar patterns, but more usually with biconsonantal roots; e.g. in Kabyle afeg means "fly!", while affug means "flight", and yufeg means "he flew". See AlsoExternal links
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