Semitic languages

The Semitic languages, are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family originating in the Middle East.[1] They
Semitic
are spoken by more than 330 million people across much of West Asia, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, Malta,
in small pockets in the Caucasus[2] as well as in often large immigrant and expatriate communities in North Geographic West Asia, North Africa,
America, Europe and Australasia.[3][4] The terminology was first used in the 1780s by members of the Göttingen distribution East Africa, Malta
School of History,[5] who derived the name from Shem, one of the three sons of Noah in the Book of Genesis. Linguistic Afro-Asiatic
classification
The most widely spoken Semitic languages today, with numbers of native speakers only, are Arabic (300 Semitic
million),[6] Amharic (~22 million),[7] Tigrinya (7 million),[8] Hebrew (~5 million native/L1 speakers),[9] Tigre Proto- Proto-Semitic
(~1.05 million), Aramaic (575,000 to 1 million largely Assyrian speakers)[10][11][12] and Maltese (483,000 language
speakers).[13]
Subdivisions East Semitic †
Semitic languages occur in written form from a very early historical date, with East Semitic Akkadian and Eblaite West Semitic
texts (written in a script adapted from Sumerian cuneiform) appearing from the 30th century BCE and the 25th
ISO 639-2 / 5 sem
century BCE in Mesopotamia and the north eastern Levant respectively. The only earlier attested languages are
Sumerian, Elamite (2800 BCE to 550 BCE, both language isolates), Egyptian, and the unclassified Lullubi (30th Glottolog semi1276 (http://glottol
century BCE). og.org/resource/languoi
d/id/semi1276)
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 are the primary carriers of meaning in the
Semitic languages. These include the Ugaritic, Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic, and ancient South
Arabian alphabets. The Geʽez script, 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 at all
times, in contrast with other Semitic languages which indicate diacritics based on need or for introductory
purposes. Maltese is the only Semitic language written in the Latin script and the only Semitic language to be an
official 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. ‫ ﻛﺘﺎب‬kitāb "book", ‫ ﻛﺘﺐ‬kutub "books", ‫ ﻛﺎﺗﺐ‬kātib "writer", ‫ ﻛﺘّﺎب‬kuttāb
"writers", ‫ ﻛﺘﺐ‬kataba "he wrote", ‫ ﻳﻜﺘﺐ‬yaktubu "he writes", etc.

Contents
Name and identification
Approximate historical distribution of Semitic
History
Ancient Semitic-speaking peoples languages

Common Era (CE)

Present situation
Phonology
Consonants
Vowels
Correspondence of sounds with other Afroasiatic languages
Grammar
Word order
Cases in nouns and adjectives
Number in nouns
Verb aspect and tense
Morphology: triliteral roots
Independent personal pronouns
Cardinal numerals
Chronology mapping of Semitic languages
Typology
Common vocabulary
Classification
Semitic-speaking peoples
Central Semitic
East Semitic
South Semitic
Unknown
See also
Notes
References
Additional reference literature
External links

Name and identification

The similarity of the Hebrew, Arabic and Aramaic languages has been accepted by all scholars since medieval times. The
languages were familiar to Western European scholars due to historical contact with neighbouring Near Eastern countries and
through Biblical studies, and a comparative analysis of Hebrew, Arabic, and Aramaic was published in Latin in 1538 by
Guillaume Postel.[14] Almost two centuries later, Hiob Ludolf described the similarities between these three languages and
the Ethiopian Semitic languages.[14] However, neither scholar named this grouping as "Semitic".[14]

The term "Semitic" was created by members of the Göttingen School of History, and specifically by August Ludwig von
Schlözer[15] (1781).[16] Johann Gottfried Eichhorn[17] (1787)[18] coined the name "Semitic" in the late 18th century to
designate the languages closely related to Arabic, Aramaic, and Hebrew.[15] The choice of name was derived from Shem,
one of the three sons of Noah in the genealogical accounts of the biblical Book of Genesis,[15] or more precisely from the
Koine Greek rendering of the name, Σήμ (Sēm). Eichhorn is credited with popularising the term,[19] particularly via a 1795
article "Semitische Sprachen" (Semitic languages) in which he justified the terminology against criticism that Hebrew and
Canaanite were the same language despite Canaan being "Hamitic" in the Table of Nations.[20][19]

In the Mosaic Table of Nations, those names which are listed as Semites are purely names of tribes who speak
the so-called Oriental languages and live in Southwest Asia. As far as we can trace the history of these very
languages back in time, they have always been written with syllabograms or with alphabetic script (never with
hieroglyphs or pictograms); and the legends about the invention of the syllabograms and alphabetic script go
back to the Semites. In contrast, all so called Hamitic peoples originally used hieroglyphs, until they here and 1538 comparison of Hebrew and
there, either through contact with the Semites, or through their settlement among them, became familiar with Arabic, by Guillaume Postel –
their syllabograms or alphabetic script, and partly adopted them. Viewed from this aspect too, with respect to the possibly the first such representation
alphabet used, the name "Semitic languages" is completely appropriate. in Western European literature[14]

Previously these languages had been commonly known as the "Oriental languages" in European literature.[15][17] In the 19th century, "Semitic" became the
conventional name; however, an alternative name, "Syro-Arabian languages", was later introduced by James Cowles Prichard and used by some writers.[17]

History

Ancient Semitic-speaking peoples

There are several locations proposed as possible sites for prehistoric origins of Semitic-speaking peoples: Mesopotamia, the Levant,
East Mediterranean, the Arabian Peninsula, and North Africa, with the most recent Bayesian studies supporting the view that Semitic
originated in the Levant circa 3800 BC, and was later also introduced to the Horn of Africa in approximately 800 BC from the
southern Arabian peninsula, and to North Africa via Phoenician colonists at approximately the same time.[21][22] This is supported by
the fact that by far the earliest recorded examples of Semitic languages are to be found in Western Asia, and considerably the largest
number of historically recorded Semitic languages occur in this region also.

Semitic languages were spoken and written across much of the Middle East and Asia Minor during the Bronze Age and Iron Age,
the earliest attested being the East Semitic Akkadian of the Mesopotamian, northeast Levantine and southeastern Anatolian polities of
Akkad, Assyria and Babylonia (effectively modern Iraq, southeast Turkey and northeast Syria), and the also East Semitic Eblaite
language of the kingdom of Ebla in the northeastern Levant.

The various extremely closely related and mutually intelligible Canaanite languages, a branch of the Northwest Semitic languages
included Amorite, first attested in the 21st century BC, Edomite, Hebrew, Ammonite, Moabite, Phoenician (Punic/Carthaginian),
Samaritan Hebrew, Ekronite, Amalekite and Sutean. They were spoken in what is today Israel, Syria, Lebanon, the Palestinian 14th century BC diplomatic
territories, Jordan, the northern Sinai peninsula, some northern and eastern parts of the Arabian peninsula, southwest fringes of letter in Akkadian, found in
Turkey, and in the case of Phoenician, coastal regions of Tunisia (Carthage), Libya and Algeria, and possibly in Malta and other Amarna, Egypt
Mediterranean islands.

Ugaritic, a Northwest Semitic language closely related to but distinct from the Canaanite group was spoken in the kingdom of Ugarit in north western Syria.

A hybrid Canaano-Akkadian language also emerged in Canaan (Israel,Jordan, Lebanon) during the 14th century BC, incorporating elements of the Mesopotamian
East Semitic Akkadian language of Assyria and Babylonia with the West Semitic Canaanite languages.[23]

Aramaic, a still living ancient Northwest Semitic language, first attested in the 12th century BC in the northern Levant, gradually replaced the East Semitic and
Canaanite languages across much of the Near East, particularly after being adopted as the lingua franca of the vast Neo-Assyrian Empire (911-605 BC) by Tiglath-
Pileser III during the 8th century BC, and being retained by the succeeding Neo-Babylonian and Achaemenid Empires.[24]

The Chaldean language (not to be confused with Aramaic or its Biblical variant, sometimes referred to as Chaldean) was a Northwest Semitic language also,
possibly closely related to Aramaic, but no examples of the language remain, as after settling in south eastern Mesopotamia from the Levant during the 9th century
BC the Chaldeans appear to have rapidly adopted the Akkadian and Aramaic languages of the indigenous Mesopotamians.

Old South Arabian languages (classified as South Semitic and therefore distinct from the Central Semitic language of Arabic which developed over 1000 years later)
were spoken in the kingdoms of Dilmun, Meluhha, Sheba, Ubar, Socotra and Magan, which in modern terms encompassed part of the eastern coast of Saudi Arabia,
and Bahrain, Qatar, Oman and Yemen. South Semitic languages are thought to have spread to the Horn of Africa circa 8th century BC where the Ge'ez language
emerged (though the direction of influence remains uncertain).

Common Era (CE)

 Syriac, a 5th-century BC Assyrian[25] Mesopotamian descendant of Aramaic used in
northeastern Syria, Mesopotamia and south east Anatolia,[26] rose to importance as a
literary language of early Christianity in the third to fifth centuries and continued into the
early Islamic era.

The Arabic language, although originating in the Arabian peninsula, first emerged in
written form in the 1st to 4th centuries CE in the southern regions of present-day Jordan,
Israel, Palestine, and Syria. With the advent of the early Muslim conquests of the
seventh and eighth centuries, Classical Arabic eventually replaced many (but not all) of
the indigenous Semitic languages and cultures of the Near East. Both the Near East and
North Africa saw an influx of Muslim Arabs from the Arabian Peninsula, followed later
by non-Semitic Muslim Iranian and Turkic peoples. The previously dominant Aramaic
dialects maintained by the Assyrians, Babylonians and Persians gradually began to be
sidelined, however descendant dialects of Eastern Aramaic (including the Akkadian
influenced Assyrian Neo-Aramaic, Chaldean Neo-Aramaic, Turoyo and Mandaic)
Example of Arabic Calligraphy
survive to this day among the Assyrians and Mandaeans of northern Iraq, northwestern
Iran, northeastern Syria and southeastern Turkey, with up to a million fluent speakers.
Western Aramaic is now only spoken by a few thousand Aramean Syriac Christians in
western Syria. The Arabs spread their Central Semitic language to North Africa (Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco
Approximate distribution of Semitic and northern Sudan and Mauritania), where it gradually replaced Egyptian Coptic and many Berber languages (although
languages around the 1st century, Berber is still largely extant in many areas), and for a time to the Iberian Peninsula (modern Spain, Portugal and Gibraltar)
ignoring surviving speakers of Punic and Malta.
in the Eastern Mediterranean
With the patronage of the caliphs and the prestige of its liturgical status, Arabic 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,[27] the Fertile Crescent, and Egypt. Most of the Maghreb followed, specifically in the wake
of the Banu Hilal's incursion in the 11th century, and Arabic became the native language of many inhabitants of al-Andalus.
After the collapse of the Nubian kingdom of Dongola in the 14th century, Arabic began to spread south of Egypt into modern
Sudan; soon after, the Beni Ḥassān brought Arabization to Mauritania. A number of Modern South Arabian languages distinct
from Arabic still survive, such as Soqotri, Mehri and Shehri which are mainly spoken in Socotra, Yemen and Oman.

Meanwhile, the Semitic languages that had arrived from southern Arabia in the 8th century BC were diversifying in Ethiopia
and Eritrea, where, under heavy Cushitic influence, they split into a number of languages, including Amharic and Tigrinya. With
the expansion of Ethiopia under the Solomonic dynasty, Amharic, previously a minor local language, spread throughout much
of the country, replacing both Semitic (such as Gafat) and non-Semitic (such as Weyto) languages, and replacing Ge'ez as the Page from a 12th-century Quran
principal literary language (though Ge'ez remains the liturgical language for Christians in the region); this spread continues to in Arabic
this day, with Qimant set to disappear in another generation.

Present situation
Arabic is currently the native language of majorities from Mauritania to Oman, and from Iraq to
the Sudan. Classical Arabic is the language of the Quran. It is also studied widely in the non-
Arabic-speaking Muslim world. The Maltese language is genetically a descendant of the extinct
Siculo-Arabic, a variety of Maghrebi Arabic formerly spoken in Sicily. The modern 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 within the European Union.

Successful as second languages far beyond their numbers of contemporary first-language

speakers, a few Semitic languages today are the base of the sacred literature of some of the
world's major religions, including Islam (Arabic), Judaism (Hebrew and Aramaic), churches of
Syriac Christianity (Syriac) and Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox Christianity (Ge'ez). Millions
learn these as a second language (or an archaic version of their modern tongues): many Muslims
learn to read and recite the Qur'an and Jews speak and study Biblical Hebrew, the language of
the Torah, Midrash, and other Jewish scriptures. Ethnic Assyrian followers of the Assyrian
Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic Church, Ancient Church of the East, Assyrian Map showing the distribution of Semitic (orange) and other Afro-
Pentecostal Church, Assyrian Evangelical Church and Assyrian members of the Syriac Asiatic language speakers today
Orthodox Church both speak Mesopotamian eastern Aramaic and use it also as a liturgical
tongue. The language is also used liturgically by the primarily Arabic-speaking followers of the
Maronite, Syriac Catholic Church and some Melkite Christians. Greek and Arabic are the main
liturgical languages of Oriental Orthodox Christians in the Middle East, who compose the
patriarchates of Antioch, Jerusalem and Alexandria. Mandaic is both spoken and used as a
liturgical language by the Mandaeans.

Despite the ascendancy of Arabic in the Middle East, other Semitic languages still exist. Biblical
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. Modern Hebrew is
the main language of Israel, with Biblical Hebrew remaining as the language of liturgy and
religious scholarship of Jews worldwide.

Several smaller ethnic groups, in particular the Assyrians, Kurdish Jews, and Gnostic Mandeans,
continue to speak and write Mesopotamian Aramaic languages, particularly Neo-Aramaic
languages descended from Syriac, in those areas roughly corresponding to Kurdistan (northern
Iraq, northeast Syria, south eastern Turkey and northwestern Iran). Syriac language itself, a
descendant of Eastern Aramaic languages (Mesopotamian Old Aramaic), is used also liturgically Map showing the historical distribution of Semitic (yellow) and other
by the Syriac Christians throughout the area. Although the majority of Neo-Aramaic dialects Afro-Asiatic language speakers about 1000–2000 years ago
spoken today are descended from Eastern varieties, Western Neo-Aramaic is still spoken in 3
villages in Syria.
In Arab-dominated Yemen and Oman, on the southern rim of the Arabian Peninsula, a few tribes continue to speak Modern South Arabian languages such as Mahri
and Soqotri. These languages differ greatly from both the surrounding Arabic dialects and from the (unrelated but previously thought to be related) languages of the
Old South Arabian inscriptions.

Historically linked to the peninsular homeland of Old South Arabian, of which only one language, Razihi, remains, Ethiopia and Eritrea contain a substantial number
of Semitic languages; the most widely spoken are Amharic in Ethiopia, Tigre in Eritrea, and Tigrinya in both. Amharic is the official language of Ethiopia. Tigrinya is
a working language in Eritrea. Tigre is spoken by over one million people in the northern and central Eritrean lowlands and parts of eastern Sudan. A number of
Gurage languages are spoken by populations in the semi-mountainous region of southwest Ethiopia, while Harari is restricted to the city of Harar. Ge'ez remains the
liturgical language for certain groups of Christians in Ethiopia and in Eritrea.

Phonology
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. The reconstruction of Proto-Semitic (PS) was originally based primarily on Arabic, whose
phonology and morphology (particularly in Classical Arabic) is very conservative, and which preserves as contrastive 28 out of the evident 29 consonantal
phonemes.[28] with *s [s] and *š [ʃ] merging into Arabic /s/ ⟨‫ ⟩س‬and *ś [ɬ] becoming Arabic /ʃ/ ⟨‫⟩ش‬.

Proto-Semitic consonant phonemes[29]

Type Manner Voicing Labial Interdental Alveolar Palatal Lateral Velar/Uvular Pharyngeal Glottal
voiceless *p [p] *t [t] *k [k]
Stop emphatic *ṭ [tʼ] *q [kʼ] *ʼ [ʔ]
voiced *b [b] *d [d] *g [g]
Obstruent
voiceless *ṯ [θ] *s [s] *š [ʃ] *ś [ɬ] *ḫ [x]~[χ] *ḥ [ħ] *h [h]

Fricative emphatic *ṱ[a] [θʼ] *ṣ [sʼ] *ṣ́ [ɬʼ]

voiced *ḏ [ð] *z [z] *ġ [ɣ]~[ʁ] *ʻ [ʕ]
Trill *r [r]
Resonant Approximant *w [w] *y [j] *l [l]
Nasal *m [m] *n [n]

a. The emphatic interdental fricative is usually spelled *ṯ̣ but is replaced here by *ṱ for better readability.

Note: the fricatives *s, *z, *ṣ, *ś, *ṣ́, *ṱ may also be interpreted as affricates (/t͡s/, /d͡z/, /t͡sʼ/, /t͡ɬ/, /t͡ɬʼ/, /t͡θʼ/), as discussed in Proto-Semitic language § Fricatives.

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. Sound shifts affecting the vowels are more numerous and, at times, less regular.

Consonants

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.

Most of the attested languages have merged a number of the reconstructed original fricatives, though South Arabian retains all fourteen (and has added a fifteenth
from *p > f).

In Aramaic and Hebrew, all non-emphatic stops occurring singly after a vowel were softened to fricatives, leading to an alternation that was often later phonemicized
as a result of the loss of gemination.

In languages exhibiting pharyngealization of emphatics, the original velar emphatic has rather developed to a uvular stop [q].
 Regular correspondences of the Proto-Semitic consonants[30]

Proto Arabic Akka- Hebrew Aramaic

IPA Ugaritic Phoenician Ge'ez Tigr
Semitic Written Classical[31] Modern dian Written Tiberian Modern Imperial Syriac Translit.

ḇ,
*b [b] ‫ب‬ b /b/ b 𐎁 b 𐤁 b ‫ב‬ b5
/v/, /b/ 𐡁 ‫ܒ‬ ḇ, b5 በ

ḏ,
*d [d] ‫د‬ d /d/ d 𐎄 d 𐤃 d ‫ד‬ d5
/ð/, /d/ /d/ 𐡃 ‫ܕ‬ ḏ, d5 ደ

ḡ,
*g [ɡ] ‫ج‬ ǧ /ɟ ~ d͡ʒ/9 /d͡ʒ/11 g 𐎂 g 𐤂 g ‫ג‬ /ɣ/, /g/ /ɡ/ 𐡂 ‫ܓ‬ ḡ, g5 ገ
g5
p̄,
*p [p] ‫ف‬ f /f/ p 𐎔 p 𐤐 p ‫פ‬ p5
/f/, /p/ 𐡐 ‫ܦ‬ p̄, p5 ፈ

ṯ,
*t [t] ‫ت‬ t /t/ t 𐎚 t 𐤕 t ‫ת‬ /θ/, /t/ /t/ 𐡕 ‫ܬ‬ ṯ, t5 ተ
t5
ḵ,
*k [k] ‫ك‬ k /k/ k 𐎋 k 𐤊 k ‫כ‬ k5
/x/, /k/ /χ/, /k/ 𐡊 ‫ܟ‬ ḵ, k5 ከ

*ṭ [tʼ] ‫ط‬ ṭ /tˤ/ ṭ 𐎉 ṭ 𐤈 ṭ ‫ט‬ ṭ /tˤ/ /t/ 𐡈 ‫ܛ‬ ṭ ጠ

*q [kʼ] ‫ق‬ q /g ~ q/9 /q/12 q 𐎖 ḳ 𐤒 q ‫ק‬ q /q/ /k/ 𐡒 ‫ܩ‬ q ቀ

ḏ>
*ḏ [ð] ‫ذ‬ ḏ /ð/ 𐎏 𐡃3, 𐡆 ‫ܕ‬3, ‫ܖ‬ ḏ3, d
d
z 𐤆 z ‫ז‬ z /z/ ዘ
*z [z] ‫ز‬ z /z/ 𐎇 z 𐡆 ‫ܖ‬ z

*s [s] s 𐎒 s 𐤎 s ‫ס‬ s /s/ 𐡎 ‫ܤ‬ s

‫س‬ s /s/
*š [ʃ] 𐎌 š 𐡔 ‫ܫ‬ š
ሰ /s/
ׁ‫ש‬ š /ʃ/ ‫ ܫ‬3,
*ṯ [θ] ‫ث‬ ṯ /θ/ 𐎘 ṯ 𐡔3, 𐡕 ṯ3, t /s/
š 𐤔 š ‫ܬ‬

‫ ܥ‬3,
*ś [ɬ] ‫ش‬ š /ʃ/ 𐎌 š ׂ‫ש‬1 ś1 /s/ 𐡔3, 𐡎 ś 3, s ሠ /ɬ/
‫ܤ‬

ẓ13 ‫ܨ‬3,
*ṱ [θʼ] ‫ظ‬ ẓ /ðˤ/ 𐎑
>ġ
𐡏 3, 𐡈
‫ܛ‬
ṯʼ3, ṭ
/tsʼ/,
ጸ
/sʼ/
*ṣ [sʼ] ‫ص‬ ṣ /sˤ/ ṣ 𐤑 ṣ ‫צ‬ ṣ /sˤ/ /ts/ 𐡑 ‫ܨ‬ ṣ /tsʼ
𐎕 ṣ ‫ܩ‬3,
*ṣ́ [ɬʼ] ‫ض‬ ḍ /ɮˤ/ /dˤ/ 𐡒3, 𐡏
‫ܥ‬
*ġʼ3, ʻ ፀ /ɬʼ/

*ġ [ɣ]~[ʁ] ‫غ‬ ġ /ɣ~ʁ/ – 𐎙 ġ,ʻ 𐡏3 ‫ܥ‬3 ġ3, ʻ

𐤏 / ʕ/ ‫ע‬2 ʻ2 /ʕ/ /ʔ/, - ዐ /ʕ/
*ʻ [ʕ] ‫ع‬ ʻ /ʕ/ -4 𐎓 ʻ 𐡏 ‫ܥ‬ ʻ

𐎀, ʼa,
*ʼ [ʔ] ‫ء‬ ʼ /ʔ/ – 𐎛, ʼi, 𐤀 / ʔ/ ‫א‬ ʼ /ʔ/ /ʔ/, - 𐡀 ‫ܐ‬ ʼ አ /ʔ/
𐎜 ʼu10

*ḫ [x]~[χ] ‫خ‬ ḫ /x~χ/ ḫ 𐎃 ḫ 𐡇3 ‫ܟ‬3 ḫ3, ḥ ኀ /χ/

𐤇 ḥ ‫ח‬2 ḥ2 /ħ/ /χ/ /ħ/,
*ḥ [ħ] ‫ح‬ ḥ /ħ/ -4 𐎈 ḥ 𐡇 ‫ܟ‬ ḥ ሐ /ħ/

*h [h] ‫ه‬ h /h/ – 𐎅 h 𐤄 h ‫ה‬ h /h/ /h/, - 𐡄 ‫ܗ‬ h ሀ /h/

*m [m] ‫م‬ m /m/ m 𐎎 m 𐤌 m ‫מ‬ m /m/ 𐡌 ‫ܡ‬ m መ

*n [n] ‫ن‬ n /n/ n 𐎐 n 𐤍 n ‫נ‬ n /n/ 𐡍 ‫ܢ‬ n ነ

*r [ɾ] ‫ر‬ r /r/ r 𐎗 r 𐤓 r ‫ר‬ r /ɾ/ /ʁ/ 𐡓 ‫ܪ‬ r ረ

*l [l] ‫ل‬ l /l/ l 𐎍 l 𐤋 l ‫ל‬ l /l/ 𐡋 ‫ܠ‬ l ለ

*y [j] ‫ي‬ y /j/ y 𐎊 y 𐤉 y ‫י‬ y /j/ 𐡉 ‫ܝ‬ y የ

/v/,
*w [w] ‫و‬ w /w/ w 𐎆 w 𐤅 w ‫ו‬ w /w/
/w/
𐡅 ‫ܘ‬ w ወ

Note: the fricatives *s, *z, *ṣ, *ś, *ṣ́, *ṱ may also be interpreted as affricates (/t͡s/, /d͡z/, /t͡sʼ/, /t͡ɬ/, /t͡ɬʼ/, /t͡θʼ/).

Notes:

1. Proto-Semitic *ś was still pronounced as [ɬ] in Biblical Hebrew, but no letter was available in the Early Linear Script, so the letter ‫ ש‬did double
duty, representing both /ʃ/ and /ɬ/. Later on, however, /ɬ/ merged with /s/, but the old spelling was largely retained, and the two pronunciations of ‫ש‬
were distinguished graphically in Tiberian Hebrew as ׁ‫ ש‬/ʃ/ vs. ׂ‫ ש‬/s/ < /ɬ/.
2. Biblical Hebrew as of the 3rd century BCE apparently still distinguished the phonemes ġ /ʁ/ and ḫ /χ/, based on transcriptions in the Septuagint.
As in the case of /ɬ/, no letters were available to represent these sounds, and existing letters did double duty: ‫ ח‬/χ/ /ħ/ and ‫ ע‬/ʁ/ /ʕ/. In both of
these cases, however, the two sounds represented by the same letter eventually merged, leaving no evidence (other than early transcriptions) of
the former distinctions.
3. 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, *ś, *ṣ́, *ġ 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, ṣ, š, q, respectively, but later with d, t, ṭ, s, ʿ.[32][33] (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 *ġ and
*ḫ were always represented using the pharyngeal letters ʿ ḥ, but they are distinguished from the pharyngeals in the Demotic-script papyrus
Amherst 63, written about 200 BCE.[34] This suggests that these sounds, too, were distinguished in Old Aramaic language, but written using the
same letters as they later merged with.
4. The earlier pharyngeals can be distinguished in Akkadian from the zero reflexes of *h, *ʕ by e-coloring adjacent *a, e.g. pS *ˈbaʕal-um 'owner,
lord' > Akk. bēlu(m).[35]
5. Hebrew and Aramaic underwent begadkefat spirantization at a certain point, whereby the stop sounds /b ɡ d k p t/ were softened to the
corresponding fricatives [v ɣ ð x f 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 BCE,[36] and most likely occurred after the loss of Hebrew /χ, ʁ/ c. 200
BCE.[nb 1] It is known to have occurred in Hebrew by the 2nd century CE.[37] 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.[38] 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.)
6. In the Northwest Semitic languages, */w/ became */j/ at the beginning of a word, e.g. Hebrew yeled "boy" < *wald (cf. Arabic walad).
7. There is evidence of a rule of assimilation of /j/ to the following coronal consonant in pre-tonic position, shared by Hebrew, Phoenician and
Aramaic.[39]
8. In Assyrian Neo-Aramaic, [ħ] is nonexistent. In general cases, the language would lack pharyngeal fricative [ʕ] (as heard in Ayin). However, /ʕ/ is
retained in educational speech, especially among Assyrian priests.[40]
9. The palatalization of Proto-Semitic gīm /g/ to Arabic /d͡ʒ/ jīm, is most probably connected to the pronunciation of qāf /q/ as a /g/ gāf, hence in most
of the Arabian peninsula (which is the homeland of the Arabic language) ‫ ج‬is jīm /d͡ʒ/ and ‫ ق‬is gāf /g/, except in western and southern Yemen
and parts of Oman where ‫ ج‬is gīm /g/ and ‫ ق‬is qāf /q/.
10. Ugaritic orthography indicated the vowel after the glottal stop.
11. The Arabic letter jīm (‫ )ج‬has three main pronunciations in Modern Standard Arabic. [d͡ʒ] in north Algeria, Iraq, also in most of the Arabian
peninsula and as the predominant pronunciation of Literary Arabic outside the Arab world, [ʒ] occurs in most of the Levant and most North Africa;
and [ɡ] is used in northern Egypt and some regions in Yemen and Oman. In addition to other minor allophones.
12. The Arabic letter qāf (‫ )ق‬has three main pronunciations in spoken varieties. [ɡ] in most of the Arabian Peninsula, Northern and Eastern Yemen
and parts of Oman, Southern Iraq, Upper Egypt, Sudan, Libya, some parts of the Levant and to lesser extent in some parts (mostly rural) of
Maghreb. [q] in most of Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco, Southern and Western Yemen and parts of Oman, Northern Iraq, parts of the Levant
especially Druze dialects. [ʔ] in most of the Levant and Lower Egypt, as well as some North African towns such as Tlemcen and Fez. In addition
to other minor allophones.
13. ṱ can be written ẓ, and always is in the Ugaritic and Arabic contexts. In Ugaritic, sometimes assimilates to ġ, as in ġmʔ 'thirsty' (Arabic ẓmʔ,
Hebrew ṣmʔ, but Ugaritic mẓmủ 'thirsty', root ẓmʔ, is also attested).
14. Early Amharic might've had a different phonology.

The following table shows the development of the various fricatives in Hebrew, Aramaic and Arabic through cognate words:

Proto Examples
Arabic Aramaic Hebrew
Semitic Arabic Aramaic Hebrew meaning
‫ذﻫﺐ‬ ‫דהב‬ ‫זהב‬ 'gold'
*/ð/ *ḏ */ð/ ‫ذ‬ */d/ ‫ד‬
‫ذ َﻛَﺮ‬ ‫דכרא‬ ‫זָכ ָר‬ 'male'
*/z/ ‫ז‬
‫ﻣﻮازﻳﻦ‬ ‫מאזנין‬ ‫מאזנים‬ 'scale'
*/z/1 *z */z/ ‫ز‬ */z/ ‫ז‬
‫زﻣﻦ‬ ‫זמן‬ ‫זמן‬ 'time'
*/s/ ‫س‬ ‫ﺳﻜﻴﻦ‬ ‫סכין‬ ‫סכין‬ 'knife'
*/s/ *s */s/ ‫ס‬ */s/ ‫ס‬
*/ʃ/ ‫ش‬ ‫ﺷﻬﺮ‬ ‫סהר‬ ‫סהר‬ 'moon/month'
*/ɬ/ *ś */ʃ/ ‫ش‬ */s/ ׂ‫ש‬ */s/ ׂ‫ש‬ ‫ﻋﺸﺮ‬ ‫עשׂר‬ ‫עשׂר‬ 'ten'
‫ﺳﻨﺔ‬ ‫שׁנה‬ ‫שׁנה‬ 'year'
*/ʃ/ *š */s/ ‫س‬ */ʃ/ ׁ‫ש‬
‫ﺳﻼم‬ ‫שלם‬ ‫שלום‬ 'peace'
*/ʃ/ ׁ‫ש‬
‫ﺛﻼﺛﺔ‬ ‫תלת‬ ‫שלוש‬ 'three'
*/θ/ *ṯ */θ/ ‫ث‬ */t/ ‫ת‬
‫اﺛﻨﺎن‬ ‫תרין‬ ‫שתים‬ 'two'
‫ﻇﻞ‬ ‫טלה‬ ‫צל‬ 'shadow'
*/θʼ/1 *ṱ */ðˤ/ ‫ظ‬ */tʼ/ ‫ט‬
‫ﻇﻬﺮ‬ ‫טהרא‬ ‫צהרים‬ 'noon'
‫أرض‬ ‫ארע‬ ‫ארץ‬ 'land'
*/ɬʼ/1 *ṣ́ */dˤ/ ‫ض‬ */ʕ/ ‫ע‬ */sˤ~ts/1 ‫צ‬
‫ﺿﺤﻚ‬ ‫עחק‬ ‫צחק‬ 'laughed'
‫ﺻﺮخ‬ ‫צרח‬ ‫צרח‬ 'shout'
*/sʼ/1 *ṣ */sˤ/ ‫ص‬ */sʼ/ ‫צ‬
‫ﺻﺒﺮ‬ ‫צבר‬ ‫צבר‬ 'water melon like plant'
‫ﺧﻤﺴﺔ‬ ‫משָׁה‬
ְ ַ‫ח‬ ‫משָּׁה‬
ִ ֲ‫ח‬ 'five'
*/χ/ *ḫ */x~χ/ ‫خ‬
‫ﺻﺮخ‬ ‫צרח‬ ‫צרח‬ 'shout'
*/ħ/ ‫ח‬ */ħ~χ/ ‫ח‬
‫ﻣﻠﺢ‬ ‫מלח‬ ‫מלח‬ 'salt'
*/ħ/ *ḥ */ħ/ ‫ح‬
‫ﺣﻠﻢ‬ ‫חלם‬ ‫חלום‬ 'dream'
‫ﻏﺮاب‬ ‫ערב‬ ‫עורב‬ 'raven'
*/ʁ/ *ġ */ɣ~ʁ/ ‫غ‬
‫ﻏﺮب‬ ‫מערב‬ ‫מערב‬ 'west'
*/ʕ/ ‫ע‬ */ʕ~ʔ/ ‫ע‬
‫ﻋﺒﺪ‬ ‫עבד‬ ‫עבד‬ 'slave'
*/ʕ/ *ʻ */ʕ/ ‫ع‬
‫ﺳﺒﻌﺔ‬ ‫שבע‬ ‫שבע‬ 'seven'

1. possibly affricated (/dz/ /tɬʼ/ /ʦʼ/ /tθʼ/ /tɬ/)

Vowels

Proto-Semitic vowels are, in general, harder to deduce due to the nonconcatenative morphology 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)[41]
Arabic Aramaic Hebrew
pS Ge'ez Akkadian
Classical Modern usually4 /_C.ˈV /ˈ_.1 /ˈ_Cː2 /ˈ_C.C3

*a a a a ə ā a ɛ a, later ä a, e, ē5
e, i,
*i i i ə ē e ɛ, e ə i
WSyr. ɛ

*u u u u, o ə ō o o ə, ʷə6 u

*ā ā ā ā ō[nb 2] ā later a ā, ē

*ī ī ī ī ī i ī
*ū ū ū ū ū ū u ū
BA, JA ay(i), ē,
*ay. ay ē, ay ayi, ay e ī
WSyr. ay/ī & ay/ē
ō, ō,
*aw. aw ō, aw o ū
WSyr. aw/ū pausal ˈāwɛ

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
5. pS *a,*ā > Akk. e,ē in the neighborhood of pS *ʕ,*ħ and before r.
6. i.e. pS *g,*k,*ḳ,*χ > Ge'ez gʷ, kʷ,ḳʷ,χʷ / _u

Correspondence of sounds with other Afroasiatic languages

See table at Proto-Afroasiatic language#Consonant correspondences.

Grammar
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

The reconstructed default word order in Proto-Semitic is verb–subject–object (VSO), possessed–possessor (NG), and noun–adjective (NA). This was still the case in
Classical Arabic and Biblical Hebrew, e.g. Classical Arabic ‫ رأى ﻣﺤﻤﺪ ﻓﺮﻳﺪا‬ra'ā muħammadun farīdan. (literally "saw Muhammad Farid", Muhammad saw Farid).
In the modern Arabic vernaculars, however, as well as sometimes in Modern Standard Arabic (the modern literary language based on Classical Arabic) and Modern
Hebrew, the classical VSO order has given way to SVO. Modern Ethiopian Semitic languages follow a different word order: SOV, possessor–possessed, and
adjective–noun; however, the oldest attested Ethiopian Semitic language, Ge'ez, was VSO, possessed–possessor, and noun–adjective.[42] Akkadian was also
predominantly SOV.

Cases in nouns and adjectives

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 typically lost in free speech due to colloquial influence. An accusative ending -n is preserved in Ethiopian Semitic.[43] In the northwest, the scarcely
attested Samalian reflects a case distinction in the plural between nominative -ū and oblique -ī (compare the same distinction in Classical Arabic).[44][45] Additionally,
Semitic nouns and adjectives had a category of state, the indefinite state being expressed by nunation.[46]

Number in nouns

Semitic languages originally had three grammatical numbers: singular, dual, and plural. Classical Arabic still has a mandatory dual (i.e. it must be used in all
circumstances when referring to two entities), marked on nouns, verbs, adjectives and pronouns. Many contemporary dialects of Arabic still have a dual, as in the
name for the nation of Bahrain (baħr "sea" + -ayn "two"), although it is marked only on nouns. It also occurs in Hebrew in a few nouns (šana means "one year",
šnatayim means "two years", and šanim means "years"), but for those it is obligatory. The curious phenomenon of broken plurals – e.g. in Arabic, sadd "one dam"
vs. sudūd "dams" – found most profusely in the languages of Arabia and Ethiopia, may be partly of proto-Semitic origin, and partly elaborated from simpler origins.

Verb aspect and tense

All Semitic languages show two quite distinct styles of morphology used for conjugating verbs. Suffix conjugations take suffixes indicating the person, number and
gender of the subject, which bear some resemblance to the pronominal suffixes used to indicate direct objects on verbs ("I saw him") and possession on nouns ("his
dog"). So-called prefix conjugations actually takes both prefixes and suffixes, with the prefixes primarily indicating person (and sometimes number or gender), while
the suffixes (which are completely different from those used in the suffix conjugation) indicate number and gender whenever the prefix does not mark this. The prefix
conjugation is noted for a particular pattern of ʔ- t- y- n- prefixes where (1) a t- prefix is used in the singular to mark the second person and third-person feminine,
while a y- prefix marks the third-person masculine; and (2) identical words are used for second-person masculine and third-person feminine singular. The prefix
conjugation is extremely old, with clear analogues in nearly all the families of Afroasiatic languages (i.e. at least 10,000 years old). The table on the right shows
examples of the prefix and suffix conjugations in Classical Arabic, which has forms that are close to Proto-Semitic.
In Proto-Semitic, as still largely reflected in East Semitic, prefix conjugations are used both for the
past and the non-past, with different vocalizations. Cf. Akkadian niprus "we decided" (preterite), Paradigm of a regular Classical Arabic verb:
Form I kataba (yaktubu) "to write"
niptaras "we have decided" (perfect), niparras "we decide" (non-past or imperfect), vs. suffix-
conjugated parsānu "we are/were/will be deciding" (stative). Some of these features, e.g. Past
Present
gemination indicating the non-past/imperfect, are generally attributed to Afroasiatic. According to Indicative
Hetzron,[47] Proto-Semitic had an additional form, the jussive, which was distinguished from the Singular
preterite only by the position of stress: the jussive had final stress while the preterite had non-final َ
1st katab-tu ُ ْ ‫ﻛَﺘَﺒ‬
‫ﺖ‬ ʼa-ktub-u ُ ُ ‫أﻛْﺘ‬
‫ﺐ‬
(retracted) stress.
masculine katab-ta َ ْ ‫ﻛَﺘَﺒ‬
‫ﺖ‬ ta-ktub-u ُ ُ ‫ﺗَﻜْﺘ‬
‫ﺐ‬
2nd
The West Semitic languages significantly reshaped the system. The most substantial changes ِ ْ ‫ﻛَﺘَﺒ‬
feminine katab-ti ‫ﺖ‬ ta-ktub-īna َ ِ ‫ﺗَﻜْﺘُﺒ‬
‫ﻴﻦ‬
occurred in the Central Semitic languages (the ancestors of modern Hebrew, Arabic and Aramaic).
Essentially, the old prefix-conjugated jussive or preterite became a new non-past (or imperfect), masculine katab-a َ َ ‫ﻛَﺘ‬
‫ﺐ‬ ya-ktub-u ُ ُ ‫ﻳَﻜْﺘ‬
‫ﺐ‬
3rd
while the stative became a new past (or perfect), and the old prefix-conjugated non-past (or feminine katab-at ْ َ ‫ﻛَﺘَﺒ‬
‫ﺖ‬ ta-ktub-u ُ ُ ‫ﺗَﻜْﺘ‬
‫ﺐ‬
imperfect) with gemination was discarded. New suffixes were used to mark different moods in the Dual
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 2nd
masculine
katab-tumā ‫ﻛَﺘَﺒْﺘُﻤَﺎ‬ ta-ktub-āni ِ َ ‫ﺗَﻜْﺘُﺒ‬
‫ﺎن‬
& feminine
terms of tense, i.e. past vs. non-past, or aspect, i.e. perfect vs. imperfect.) A special feature in
classical Hebrew is the waw-consecutive, prefixing a verb form with the letter waw in order to masculine katab-ā ‫ﻛَﺘَﺒَﺎ‬ ya-ktub-āni ِ َ ‫ﻳَﻜْﺘُﺒ‬
‫ﺎن‬
3rd
change its tense or aspect. The South Semitic languages show a system somewhere between the ‫ﻛَﺘَﺒَﺘَﺎ‬
feminine katab-atā ta-ktub-āni ِ َ ‫ﺗَﻜْﺘُﺒ‬
‫ﺎن‬
East and Central Semitic languages.
Plural
Later languages show further developments. In the modern varieties of Arabic, for example, the 1st katab-nā ‫ﻛَﺘَﺒْﻨَﺎ‬ na-ktub-u ُ ُ ‫ﻧَﻜْﺘ‬
‫ﺐ‬
old mood suffixes were dropped, and new mood prefixes developed (e.g. bi- for indicative vs. no
prefix for subjunctive in many varieties). In the extreme case of Neo-Aramaic, the verb masculine katab-tum ْ ُ ‫ﻛَﺘَﺒْﺘ‬
‫ﻢ‬ ta-ktub-ūna َ ‫ﺗَﻜْﺘُﺒُﻮ‬
‫ن‬
2nd
conjugations have been entirely reworked under Iranian influence. feminine katab-tunna ‫ﻛَﺘَﺒْﺘُﻦ‬ ta-ktub-na ْ َ ‫ﺗ‬/big>
‫ﻚ‬
masculine katab-ū ‫ﻛَﺘَﺒُﻮا‬ ya-ktub-ūna َ ‫ﻳَﻜْﺘُﺒُﻮ‬
‫ن‬
3rd
Morphology: triliteral roots feminine katab-na َ ْ ‫ﻛَﺘَﺒ‬
‫ﻦ‬ ya-ktub-na َ ْ ‫ﻳَﻜْﺘُﺒ‬
‫ﻦ‬

All Semitic languages exhibit a unique pattern of stems called Semitic roots consisting typically of triliteral, or three-consonant consonantal roots (two- and four-
consonant roots also exist), from which nouns, adjectives, and verbs are formed in various ways (e.g., by inserting vowels, doubling consonants, lengthening vowels
or by adding prefixes, suffixes, or infixes).

For instance, the root k-t-b, (dealing with "writing" generally) yields in Arabic:

katabtu ‫ﺖ‬ ُ ْ ‫ ﻛَﺘَﺒ‬or ‫" ﻛﺘﺒﺖ‬I wrote" (f and m)

yuktab(u) ‫ ﻳُﻜْﺘَﺐ‬or ‫" ﻳﻜﺘﺐ‬being written" (masculine)
tuktab(u) ‫ ﺗُﻜﺘَﺐ‬or ‫" ﺗﻜﺘﺐ‬being written" (feminine)
yatakātabūn(a) ‫ن‬ َ ‫ ﻳَﺘَﻜَﺎﺗَﺒُﻮ‬or ‫" ﻳﺘﻜﺎﺗﺒﻮن‬they write to each other" (masculine)
istiktāb ‫ اِﺳﺘِﻜﺘﺎب‬or ‫" اﺳﺘﻜﺘﺎب‬causing to write"
kitāb ‫ ﻛِﺘَﺎب‬or ‫" ﻛﺘﺎب‬book" (the hyphen shows end of stem before various case endings)
kutayyib ‫ ﻛُﺘَﻴﺐ‬or ‫" ﻛﺘﻴﺐ‬booklet" (diminutive)
kitābat ‫ ﻛِﺘَﺎﺑَﺔ‬or ‫" ﻛﺘﺎﺑﺔ‬writing"
kuttāb ‫ ﻛُﺘﺎب‬or ‫" ﻛﺘﺎب‬writers" (broken plural)
katabat ‫ ﻛَﺘَﺒَﺔ‬or ‫" ﻛﺘﺒﺔ‬clerks" (broken plural)
maktab ‫ﻣﻜﺘَﺐ‬ َ or ‫" ﻣﻜﺘﺐ‬desk" or "office"
maktabat ‫ ﻣَﻜﺘَﺒﺔ‬or ‫" ﻣﻜﺘﺒﺔ‬library" or "bookshop"
maktūb ‫ﻣﻜﺘﻮب‬ َ or ‫" ﻣﻜﺘﻮب‬written" (participle) or "postal letter" (noun)
katībat ‫ ﻛَﺘﻴﺒﺔ‬or ‫" ﻛﺘﻴﺒﺔ‬squadron" or "document"
iktitāb ‫ اِﻛﺘِﺘﺎب‬or ‫" اﻛﺘﺘﺎب‬registration" or "contribution of funds"
muktatib ‫ﻣﻜﺘَﺘِﺐ‬ ُ or ‫" ﻣﻜﺘﺘﺐ‬subscription"

and the same root in Hebrew: (A line under k and b mean a fricitive, x for k and v for b.)

kāṯaḇti ‫" כתבתי‬I wrote"

kattāḇ ‫" כתב‬reporter" (m)
katteḇeṯ ‫" כתבת‬reporter" (f)
kattāḇā ‫" כתבה‬article" (plural kattāḇōṯ ‫)כתבות‬
miḵtāḇ ‫" מכתב‬postal letter" (plural miḵtāḇīm ‫)מכתבים‬
miḵtāḇā ‫" מכתבה‬writing desk" (plural miḵtāḇōṯ ‫)מכתבות‬
kəṯōḇeṯ ‫" כתובת‬address" (plural kəṯōḇōṯ ‫)כתובות‬
kəṯāḇ ‫" כתב‬handwriting"
kāṯūḇ ‫" כתוב‬written" (f kəṯūḇā ‫)כתובה‬
hiḵtīḇ ‫" הכתיב‬he dictated" (f hiḵtīḇā ‫)הכתיבה‬
hiṯkattēḇ ‫" התכתב‬he corresponded (f hiṯkattəḇā ‫)התכתבה‬
niḵtaḇ ‫" נכתב‬it was written" (m)
niḵtəḇā ‫" נכתבה‬it was written" (f)
kəṯīḇ ‫" כתיב‬spelling" (m)
taḵtīḇ ‫" תכתיב‬prescript" (m)
m'ə'ḵuttāḇ ‫" מכותב‬addressee" (meḵutteḇeṯ ‫ מכותבת‬f)
kəṯubbā ‫" כתובה‬ketubah (a Jewish marriage contract)" (f)

In Tigrinya and Amharic, this root used to be used widely but is now seen as an Archaic form. Ethiopic-derived languages use different roots for things that have to
do with writing (and in some cases counting) primitive root: ṣ-f and trilateral root stems: m-ṣ-f, ṣ-h-f, and ṣ-f-r are used. This roots also exists in other Semitic
languages like (Hebrew: sep̄ er "book", sōp̄ er "scribe", mispār "number" and sippūr "story"). (this root also exists in Arabic and is used to form words with a close
meaning to "writing", such as ṣaḥāfa "journalism", and ṣaḥīfa "newspaper" or "parchment"). Verbs in other non-Semitic Afroasiatic languages show similar radical
patterns, but more usually with biconsonantal roots; e.g. Kabyle afeg means "fly!", while affug means "flight", and yufeg means "he flew" (compare with Hebrew,
where hap̄ lēḡ means "set sail!", hap̄ lāḡā means "a sailing trip", and hip̄ līḡ means "he sailed", while the unrelated ʕūp̄ , təʕūp̄ ā and ʕāp̄ pertain to flight).
Independent personal pronouns

Arabic
English Proto-Semitic Akkadian Ge'ez Hebrew Aramaic Assyrian Maltese
standard vernaculars

*ʔanāku,[nb 3] ‫ אני‬,‫ אנכי‬ʔānōḵī, ‫אנא‬ jiena,

I anāku ‫ أﻧﺎ‬ʔanā ʔanā, anā, ana, āni, āna, ānig አነʔana ānā
*ʔaniya ʔănī ʔanā jien

You (sg., ‫אנת‬ āt, āty,

*ʔanka > *ʔanta atta ‫ أﻧﺖ‬ʔanta ʔant, ant, inta, inte, inti, int, (i)nta አንታ ʔánta ‫ אתה‬ʔattā int, inti
masc.) ʔantā āten
You (sg., ‫אנת‬ āt, āty,
*ʔanti atti ‫ أﻧﺖ‬ʔanti ʔanti, anti, inti, init (i)nti, intch አንቲ ʔánti ‫ את‬ʔatt int, inti
fem.) ʔanti āten
hu,
He *suʔa šū ‫ ﻫﻮ‬huwa, hū huwwa, huwwe, hū wəʔətu ‫ הוא‬hū ‫ הוא‬hu owā
huwa
She *siʔa šī ‫ ﻫﻲ‬hiya, hī hiyya, hiyye, hī yəʔəti ‫ היא‬hī ‫ היא‬hi ayā hi, hija
*niyaħnū, ‫ אנחנו‬,‫ אנו‬ʔānū, ‫נחנא‬
We nīnu ‫ ﻧﺤﻦ‬naħnu niħna, iħna, ħinna ንሕነ ʔnəħnā axnan aħna
*niyaħnā ʔănaħnū náħnā
You (dual) *ʔantunā ‫ أﻧﺘﻤﺎ‬ʔantumā Plural form is used

They (dual) *sunā[nb 4] *sunī(ti) ‫ ﻫﻤﺎ‬humā Plural form is used

You (pl., ‫ أﻧﺘﻢ‬ʔantum, ʔantum, antum, antu, intu, intum, አንትሙ ‫אנתן‬
*ʔantunū attunu ‫ אתם‬ʔattem axtōxūn intom
masc.) ʔantumu (i)ntūma ʔantəmu ʔantun

You (pl., ʔantin, antin, ʔantum, antu, intu, አንትን ‫אנתן‬

*ʔantinā attina ‫أﻧﺘﻦ‬
ّ ʔantunna ‫ אתן‬ʔatten axtōxūn intom
fem.) intum, (i)ntūma ʔantən ʔanten

They እሙንቱ ‫ המה‬,‫ הם‬hēm, ‫הנן‬

*sunū šunu ‫ ﻫﻢ‬hum, humu hum, humma, hūma, hom, hinne(n) eni huma
(masc.) ʔəmuntu hēmmā hinnun

እማንቱ ‫הנן‬
They (fem.) *sinā šina ‫ﻫﻦ‬
ّ hunna hin, hinne(n), hum, humma, hūma ‫ הנה‬,‫ הן‬hēn, hēnnā eni huma
ʔəmāntu hinnin

Cardinal numerals

Assyrian
English Proto-Semitic[48] IPA Arabic Hebrew Sabaean Maltese
Neo-Aramaic
One *ʼaḥad-, *ʻišt- ʔaħad, ʔiʃt ‫ أﺣﺪ‬،‫ واﺣﺪ‬waːħid-, ʔaħad- ‫ אחד‬ʼeḥáḏ, ʔeˈχad ʔḥd xā wieħed
*ṯin-ān (nom.), *ṯin- θinaːn, ‫ اﺛﻨﺎن‬iθn-āni (nom.), ‫ اﺛﻨﻴﻦ‬iθn-ajni (obj.), ‫ اﺛﻨﺘﺎن‬fem. ‫ שנים‬šənáyim ˈʃn-ajim, fem.
Two *ṯny treh tnejn
ayn (obl.), *kilʼ- θinajn, kilʔ iθnat-āni, ‫ اﺛﻨﺘﻴﻦ‬iθnat-ajni ‫ שתים‬šətáyim ˈʃt-ajim
ɬalaːθ >
Three *śalāṯ- > *ṯalāṯ-[nb 5] ‫ ﺛﻼث‬θalaːθ- fem. ‫ שלוש‬šālṓš ʃaˈloʃ *ślṯ ṭlā tlieta
θalaːθ
Four *ʼarbaʻ- ʔarbaʕ ‫ أرﺑﻊ‬ʔarbaʕ- fem. ‫ ארבע‬ʼárbaʻ ˈʔaʁba *ʼrbʻ arpā erbgħa
Five *ḫamš- χamʃ ‫ ﺧﻤﺲ‬χams- fem. ‫ חמש‬ḥā́mēš ˈχameʃ *ḫmš xamšā ħamsa

Six *šidṯ-[nb 6] ʃidθ ‫ﺳﺖ‬

ّ sitt- (ordinal ‫ ﺳﺎدس‬saːdis-) fem. ‫ שש‬šēš ʃeʃ *šdṯ/šṯ ëštā sitta

Seven *šabʻ- ʃabʕ ‫ ﺳﺒﻊ‬sabʕ- fem. ‫ שבע‬šéḇaʻ ˈʃeva *šbʻ šowā sebgħa
*ṯmny/
Eight *ṯamāniy- θamaːnij- ‫ ﺛﻤﺎﻧﻲ‬θamaːn-ij- fem. ‫ שמונה‬šəmṓneh ʃˈmone *tmanyā tmienja
ṯmn
Nine *tišʻ- tiʃʕ ‫ ﺗﺴﻊ‬tisʕ- fem. ‫ תשע‬tḗšaʻ ˈtejʃa *tšʻ *učā disgħa
Ten *ʻaśr- ʕaɬr ‫ ﻋﺸﺮ‬ʕaʃ(a)r- fem. ‫ עשר‬ʻéśer ˈʔeseʁ *ʻśr *uṣrā għaxra

These are the basic numeral stems without feminine suffixes. Note that in most older Semitic languages, the forms of the numerals from 3 to 10 exhibit polarity of
gender (also called "chiastic concord" or "reverse agreement"), i.e. if the counted noun is masculine, the numeral would be feminine and vice versa.

Typology

Some early Semitic languages are speculated to have had weak ergative features.[49][50]

Common vocabulary
Due to the Semitic languages' common origin, they share some words and roots. Others differ. For example:

English Proto-Semitic Akkadian Arabic Aramaic Assyrian Hebrew Ge'ez Mehri Maltese
father *ʼab- ab- ʼab- ʼaḇ-āʼ bābā ʼāḇ ʼab ḥa-yb bu, (missier)
heart *lib(a)b- libb- lubb-, (qalb-) lebb-āʼ lëbā lëḇ, lëḇāḇ ləbb ḥa-wbēb ilbieba, (qalb)
house *bayt- bītu, bētu bayt-, (dār-) bayt-āʼ bētā báyiṯ bet beyt, bêt bejt, (dar)
peace *šalām- šalām- salām- šlām-āʼ šlāmā šālôm salām səlōm sliem
tongue *lišān-/*lašān- lišān- lisān- leššān-āʼ lišānā lāšôn ləssān əwšēn ilsien
water *may-/*māy- mû (root *mā-/*māy-) māʼ-/māy mayy-āʼ mēyā máyim māy ḥə-mō ilma

Terms given in brackets are not derived from the respective Proto-Semitic roots, though they may also derive from Proto-Semitic (as does e.g. Arabic dār, cf. Biblical
Hebrew dōr "dwelling").
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: d-y-n/d-w-n) has the meaning of
"metropolis" in Amharic, "city" in Arabic and Ancient Hebrew, and "State" in Modern 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 and in Ethiosemitic by the roots ʿ-w-q and f-l-ṭ.

For more comparative vocabulary lists, see Wiktionary appendices:

List of Proto-Semitic stems (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:List_of_Proto-Semitic_stems)

Swadesh lists for Afro-Asiatic languages (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Swadesh_lists_for_Afro-Asiatic_languages)

Classification
There are six fairly uncontroversial nodes within the Semitic languages: East Semitic, Northwest Semitic, North Arabian, Old South Arabian (also known as
Sayhadic), Modern South Arabian, and Ethiopian Semitic. These are generally grouped further, but there is ongoing debate as to which belong together. The
classification based on shared innovations given below, established by Robert Hetzron in 1976 and with later emendations by John Huehnergard and Rodgers as
summarized in Hetzron 1997, is the most widely accepted today. In particular, several Semiticists still argue for the traditional (partially nonlinguistic) view of Arabic
as part of South Semitic, and a few (e.g. Alexander Militarev or the German-Egyptian professor Arafa Hussein Mustafa) see the South Arabian languages as a third
branch of Semitic alongside East and West Semitic, rather than as a subgroup of South Semitic. However, a new classification groups Old South Arabian as Central
Semitic instead.[51]

Roger Blench notes that the Gurage languages are highly divergent and wonders whether they might not be a primary branch, reflecting an origin of Afroasiatic in or
near Ethiopia. At a lower level, there is still no general agreement on where to draw the line between "languages" and "dialects" – an issue particularly relevant in
Arabic, Aramaic, and Gurage – and the strong mutual influences between Arabic dialects render a genetic subclassification of them particularly difficult.

A computational phylogenetic analysis by Kitchen, et al. (2009)[52] considers the Semitic languages to have originated in the Levant about 5,750 years ago during the
Early Bronze Age, with early Ethiosemitic originating from southern Arabia approximately 2,800 years ago.

The Himyaritic and Sutean languages appear to have been Semitic, but are unclassified due to insufficient data.

East Semitic
West Semitic
Central Semitic
Northwest Semitic
Arabic
South Semitic
Western: Ethiopian Semitic and Old South Arabian
Eastern: Modern South Arabian

Semitic-speaking peoples
The following is a list of some modern and ancient Semitic-speaking peoples and nations:

Central Semitic
Ammonite speakers of Ammon
Amorites – 20th century BC
Arabs
Ancient North Arabian-speaking bedouins
Arameans – 16th to 8th centuries BC[53] / Akhlames (Ahlamu) 14th century BC.[54]
Canaanite-speaking nations of the early Iron Age:
Chaldea – appeared in southern Mesopotamia c. 1000 BC and eventually disappeared into the general Babylonian population.
Edomites
Hebrews/Israelites – founded the nation of Israel which later split into the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah. The remnants of these people became
the Jews and the Samaritans.
Maltese
Mandaeans
Moab
Nabataeans
Phoenicia – founded Mediterranean colonies including Tyre, Sidon and ancient Carthage. The remnants of these people became the modern
inhabitants of Lebanon.
Ugarit, 14th to 12th centuries BC
Nasrani (Syrian Christian)

East Semitic
Akkadian Empire – ancient Semitic speakers moved into Mesopotamia in the fourth millennium BC and settled among the local peoples of
Sumer.[55][56]
Babylonian Empire
 Assyrian Empire
Ebla – 23rd century BC

South Semitic
Kingdom of Aksum – 4th century BC to 7th century AD
Amhara people
Argobba people
Dahalik people
Gurage people
Harari people
Mehri people
Old South Arabian-speaking peoples
Sabaeans of Yemen – 9th to 1st centuries BC
Silt'e people
Tigrigna People
Tigray people
Tigre people
Zay people

Unknown
Suteans – 14th century BC
Thamud – 2nd to 5th centuries AD

See also
Proto-Semitic language
Middle Bronze Age alphabets

Notes
1. According to the generally accepted view, it is unlikely that begadkefat spirantization occurred before the merger of /χ, ʁ/ and /ħ, ʕ/, or else [x, χ]
and [ɣ, ʁ] would have to be contrastive, which is cross-linguistically rare. However, Blau argues that it is possible that lenited /k/ and /χ/ could
coexist even if pronounced identically, since one would be recognized as an alternating allophone (as apparently is the case in Nestorian
Syriac). See Blau (2010:56).
2. see Canaanite shift
3. While some believe that *ʔanāku was an innovation in some branches of Semitic utilizing an "intensifying" *-ku, comparison to other Afro-Asiatic
1ps pronouns (e.g. Eg. 3nk, Coptic anak, anok, proto-Berber *ənakkʷ) suggests that this goes further back. (Dolgopolsky 1999, pp. 10–11.)
4. The Akkadian form is from Sargonic Akkadian. Among the Semitic languages, there are languages with /i/ as the final vowel (this is the form in
Mehri). For a recent discussion concerning the reconstruction of the forms of the dual pronouns, see Bar-Asher, Elitzur. 2009. "Dual Pronouns in
Semitics and an Evaluation of the Evidence for their Existence in Biblical Hebrew," Ancient Near Eastern Studies 46: 32–49
5. Lipiński, Edward, Semitic languages: outline of a comparative grammar. This root underwent regressive assimilation. This parallels the non-
adjacent assimilation of *ś... > *š...š in proto-Canaanite or proto-North-West-Semitic in the roots *śam?š > *šamš 'sun' and *śur?š > *šurš 'root'.
(Dolgopolsky pp. 61–62.) The form *ṯalāṯ- appears in most languages (e.g. Aramaic, Arabic, Ugaritic), but the original form ślṯ appears in the Old
South Arabian languages, and a form with s < *ś (rather than š < *ṯ) appears in Akkadian.
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 ṯ has been assimilated throughout the root.

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languages, the endings of the singular noun-flexions survive, as is Elsevier. pp. 929–935. ISBN 9780080877754. Retrieved 2 June
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Additional reference literature

Baasten, Martin (2003). "A Note on the History of 'Semitic' " (https://books.google.com/books?id=oIIvqaVaLacC&pg=PA58). Hamlet on a Hill:
Semitic and Greek Studies Presented to Professor T. Muraoka on the Occasion of His Sixty-fifth Birthday. Peeters Publishers. pp. 57–73.
ISBN 9789042912151.
Bennett, Patrick R. 1998. Comparative Semitic Linguistics: A Manual. Eisenbrauns. ISBN 1-57506-021-3.
Blau, Joshua (2010). Phonology and Morphology of Biblical Hebrew. Winona Lake, Indiana: Eisenbrauns. ISBN 978-1-57506-129-0.
Davies, John (1854). "On the Semitic Languages, and their relations with the Indo-European Class. Pt I. On the Nature and Development of
Semitic Roots" (https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b3924120;view=1up;seq=181). Transactions of the Philological Society (10).
Davies, John (1854). "On the Semitic Languages, and their relations with the Indo-European Class. Pt II. On the Connection of Semitic Roots
with corresponding forms in the Indo-European Class of Languages" (https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b3924120;view=1up;seq=250).
Transactions of the Philological Society (13).
Dolgopolsky, Aron (1999). From Proto-Semitic to Hebrew. Milan: Centro Studi Camito-Semitici di Milano.
Eichhorn, Johann Gottfried (1794). Allgemeine Bibliothek der biblischen Literatur (https://books.google.com/books?id=8Nk7AAAAcAAJ&pg=RA
1-PA773). 6. pp. 772–776.
Bergsträsser, Gotthelf. 1995. Introduction to the Semitic Languages: Text Specimens and Grammatical Sketches. Translated by Peter T. Daniels.
Winona Lake, Ind. : Eisenbrauns. ISBN 0-931464-10-2.
Garbini, Giovanni. 1984. Le lingue semitiche: studi di storia linguistica. Naples: Istituto Orientale.
Garbini, Giovanni; Durand, Olivier. 1995. Introduzione alle lingue semitiche. Paideia: Brescia 1995.
Goldenberg, Gideon. 2013. Semitic Languages: Features, Structures, Relations, Processes. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-964491-9.
Hetzron, Robert (ed.). 1997. The Semitic Languages. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-05767-1. (For family tree, see p. 7).
Lipinski, Edward. 2001. Semitic Languages: Outlines of a Comparative Grammar. 2nd ed. Leuven: Orientalia Lovanensia Analecta. ISBN 90-
429-0815-7
Mustafa, Arafa Hussein. 1974. Analytical study of phrases and sentences in epic texts of Ugarit. (German title: Untersuchungen zu Satztypen in
den epischen Texten von Ugarit). Dissertation. Halle-Wittenberg: Martin-Luther-University.
Moscati, Sabatino. 1969. An introduction to the comparative grammar of the Semitic languages: phonology and morphology. Wiesbaden:
Harrassowitz.
Ullendorff, Edward. 1955. The Semitic languages of Ethiopia: a comparative phonology. London: Taylor's (Foreign) Press.
Woodard, Roger D. (ed.) (2008). The Ancient Languages of Syrio-Palestine and Arabia (http://e-learning.tsu.ge/pluginfile.php/5868/mod_resourc
e/content/0/dzveli_armosavluri_enebi_-ugarituli_punikuri_arameuli_ebrauli_arabuli.pdf) (PDF). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Wright, William; Smith, William Robertson. 1890. Lectures on the comparative grammar of the Semitic languages. Cambridge University Press
1890. [2002 edition: ISBN 1-931956-12-X]

External links
Semitic genealogical tree (https://web.archive.org/web/20090104234232/http://community.livejournal.com/terra_linguarum/95880.html) (as well
as the Afroasiatic one), presented by Alexander Militarev at his talk "Genealogical classification of Afro-Asiatic languages according to the latest
data" (at the conference on the 70th anniversary of Vladislav Illich-Svitych, Moscow, 2004; short annotations of the talks given there (https://web.
archive.org/web/20100818025156/http://community.livejournal.com/terra_linguarum/95627.html) (in Russian)
Pattern-and-root inflectional morphology: the Arabic broken plural (https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00831338)
Ancient snake spell in Egyptian pyramid may be oldest Semitic inscription (https://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/discoveries/2007-01-23-snak
e-spell_x.htm)
Alexis Neme and Sébastien Paumier (2019), Restoring Arabic vowels through omission-tolerant dictionary lookup, Lang Resources &
Evaluation, Vol 53, 1-65 pages (https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02113751)
Swadesh vocabulary lists of Semitic languages (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Afro-Asiatic_Swadesh_lists) (from Wiktionary's
Swadesh-list appendix (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Swadesh_lists))
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