Syriac; Writing system. This map, while not a complete collection nor a total representation of the Semitic languages, can help convey the general geographic areas in which the presented ancient Semitic Languages were widespread and written. Brockelmann's Canaanite sub-group includes Ugaritic, Phoenician and Hebrew. German in Germany. This book offers a thorough, authoritative account of the branches of Semitic. Central Semitic; Geographic distribution: Middle East, North Africa: Linguistic classification: Afro-Asiatic. Early Ethiopian Semitic languages (Ethio-Semitic, Ethiopian Semitic) on the southern coast of the Arabian Peninsula and found across the Red Sea in the Horn of Africa, mainly in modern Ethiopia and Eritrea. “The Syrian Scribe of the Jerusalem Amarna Letters,” in, Rainey, A. F. 1986 “The Ancient Hebrew Prefix Conjugation in the Light of Amarnah Canaanite,”. The oldest coherent texts are in Ugaritic, dating to the Late Bronze Age, which by the time of the Bronze Age collapse are joined by Old Aramaic, and by … Ethiopian Semitic; Subdivisions: North Ethiopic. The Semitic languages, previously also named Syro-Arabian languages, are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family originating in the Middle East that are spoken by more than 330 million people across much of Western Asia, North Africa and the Horn of Africa, as well as in often large immigrant and expatriate communities in North America, Europe and Australasia. Semitic. The time period for the split of Northwest Semitic from Proto-Semitic or from other Semitic groups is uncertain. “The Early History of the West Semitic Peoples,”, Ginsberg, H. L. 1970. Phonologically, Ugaritic lost the sound West Semitic. That this same sound became /ʕ/ in Aramaic (although in Ancient Aramaic, it was written with qoph), suggests that Ugaritic is not the parent language of the group. It was originally thought that all four members of this group were dialects of one Old South Arabian language, but in the mid-twentieth century, linguist A.F.L. Comparative Semitic Linguistics: A Manual. Click on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time. The Phoenician alphabet is of fundamental importance in human history as the source and ancestor of the Greek alphabet, the later Latin alphabet, the Aramaic (Square Hebrew), Syriac, and Arabic writing systems, Germanic runes, and ultimately Cyrillic. The main two languages were Akkadian and Eblaite This page was last changed on 6 June 2020, at 14:26. It is the only branch of Semitic languages with languages still spoken. Classification issues. "Remarks on the Classification of the Northwest Semitic Languages," in, Kaufman, S. A. IncantationBowl.jpg 1,163 × 916; 960 KB. Amharic is the most used Ethiopian Semitic language. “The Northwest Semitic Languages,” in, Greenfield, J. C. 1969. Geographic distribution: West Asia, North Africa, Northeast Africa, Malta; Proto-language: Proto-Semitic; Linguistic classification: Afro-AsiaticSemitic; Subdivisions: East Semitic †, West Semitic 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. Northwest Semitic, known as Syro-Palestinian in dialect geography,[2] is a division of the Semitic languages comprising the indigenous languages of the Levant. They think that Central and Southern Semitic languages are not related and are … They form the western branch of the South Semitic languages, itself a sub-branch of Semitic, part of the Afroasiatic language family. Semitic languages, languages that form a branch of the Afro-Asiatic language phylum. Original file ‎(SVG file, nominally 2,100 × 2,300 pixels, file size: 744 KB), https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0 1990. The oldest coherent texts are in Ugaritic, dating to the Late Bronze Age, which by the time of the Bronze Age collapse are joined by Old Aramaic, and by the Iron Age by the Canaanite languages (Phoenician and Hebrew). Central Semitic. Semitic. During the early 1st millennium, the Phoenician language was spread throughout the Mediterranean by Phoenician colonists, most notably to Carthage in today's Tunisia. “Alphabets and pots: Reflections on typological method in the dating of human artifacts,”, Cross, F. M. 1989. “The Classification of North West Semitic Dialects of the Biblical Period and Some Implications Thereof,” in, Moran, William L. 1961. "The Formal Scripts of Iron Age Transjordan,", Huehnergard, J. South Ethiopic. They came from the Levant in the Middle East. [8][9], It is clear that Taymanitic script expressed a distinct linguistic variety that is not Arabic and not closely related to Hismaic or Safaitic, while it can tentatively be suggested that it was more closely related to Northwest Semitic.[10]. This book offers a thorough, authoritative account of the branches of Semitic. East Semitic; Geographic distribution: formerly Mesopotamia: Linguistic classification: Afro-Asiatic. The phylum has six branches: Berber, Chadic, Cushitic, … Central Semitic is either a subgroup of West Semitic or a top-level division of Semitic alongside East Semitic and South Semitic. Ancient Semitic peoples Eastern Aramaic. Approximate historical distribution of Semitic languages. Semitic. I, the copyright holder of this work, hereby publish it under the following license: (SVG file, nominally 2,100 × 2,300 pixels, file size: 744 KB), Geographic Distribution of some Ancient Semitic Inscriptions and their Languages.svg, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0, Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International, User:OgreBot/Uploads by new users/2020 June 06 13:30, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/user:TheWearWolf, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Geographic_Distribution_of_some_Ancient_Semitic_Inscriptions_and_their_Languages.svg&oldid=503488665, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. The effect of this sound shift can be seen by comparing the following words: Division of Semitic languages of the Levant, Comparison of Northwest Semitic scripts, by, "The subgrouping of the Semitic languages", The Semitic Languages: An International Handbook, Chapter V, Kurzgefasste vergleichende Grammatik der semitischen Sprachen, Elemente der Laut- und Formenlehre, Linguist List Central Semitic composite tree (with Aramaic and Canaanite grouped together in Northwest Semitic, and Arabic and Old South Arabian as sisters), Linguist List bibliography of sources for composite tree, Ethnologue Central Semitic entry (with Arabic and Canaanite grouped together against Aramaic), "The Language of the Taymanitic Inscriptions and its Classification", "A neglected phonetic law: The assimilation of pretonic yod to a following coronal in North-West Semitic", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Northwest_Semitic_languages&oldid=987266468, Languages attested from the 14th century BC, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. The ancient Judaeans adopted Aramaic for daily use, and parts of the Tanakh are written in it. Ethiopian Semitic (also Ethio-Semitic, Ethiosemitic, Ethiopic or Abyssinian ) is a family of languages spoken in Ethiopia, Eritrea and Sudan. The vowel shift from *aː to /oː/ distinguishes Canaanite from Ugaritic. "Narrative Poetry in Canaan,", Gelb, I. J. The East Semitic group is attested by three distinct languages, Akkadian, Eblaite and Kishite all of which have been long extinct. The South Semitic languages are a branch of Semitic languages. Size of this PNG preview of this SVG file: This map compiles the locations of discovery of some ancient Semitic-language inscriptions, and groups them into their identified languages and language families. All structured data from the file and property namespaces is available under the. The East Semitic languages were a branch of Semitic languages. Actually, English and French are often considered "world languages" in the Western world. Identification of the hypothetical proto-Semitic region of origin is therefore dependent on the larger geographic distributions of the other language families within Afroasiatic. Semitic. The timestamp is only as accurate as the clock in the camera, and it may be completely wrong. If the file has been modified from its original state, some details such as the timestamp may not fully reflect those of the original file. Hebrew was preserved, however, as a Jewish liturgical language and language of scholarship, and resurrected in the 19th century, with modern adaptations, to become the Modern Hebrew language of the State of Israel. Early traces of Semitic speakers are found, too, in South Ar… ↑ Huehnergard, John; Pat-El, Na'ama (2013-10-08). By the 6th century BC, the use of Aramaic spread throughout the Northwest Semitic region (see Imperial Aramaic), largely driving the other Northwest Semitic languages to extinction. 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