The Semitic Languages

Brief information
Location
Significance
Literary Works

A Branch of the Afroasiatic

Language Family
Widely spoken and developed in the Middle East.
(Although Debatable) Believe to be originated from
Mesopotamia, from the language type called ProtoSemitic.
The term Semitic is said to have been driven from
the name Shem-whose the third son of Noah.
Shem is believed to be the ancestors of the
Semites or the people who speck the semitic
languages.

Where were these languages

spoken?

Where were these languages

spoken?

Abjad and Abugida Writing

System
Abjad is a type of writing
system each symbol always or
usually stands for a consonant.
Abugida is a type of writing
system in which consonant
vowel sequences are written as
a unit: each unit is based on
consonant letter, and vowel
notation is secondary.
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The Semitic Languages

Consists of more then 77
languages!!

But most of them are extinct and today

only around 5 of these languages are
widely spoken.

Arabic (300 Million) {Middle East, North and

East Africa}

Amharic (22 Million) {Ethiopia}

Tigrinya (7 Million) {Ethiopia and
Eritrea}
Hebrew (5 Million) {Israel}
Aramaic (50,000)
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The Other Languages?

Akkadian (extinct) {Ancient
Mesopotamia}
Silte (830,000) {Etiopia}
Tigr [Xasa] (800,000) {Eritrea}
Phoenician (extinct) {Canaan}
Canaanite (extinct) {Canaan}
Geez (extinct) {Northern Region of
Ethiopia and Eritrea}
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Afroasiatic Language
Family

East Semitic
Languages

ProtoSemitic
South Semitic
Languages

Central Semitic
Languages

Akkadi
an

Eblait
e

Arabi
c

Geez

Canaanite
Languages

Amhari
c

Hebrew
Aramaic
Phoenician

Tigriny
a

Hebrew, the Language of

the Israelites

Derived its name from the word

Ibri" - the root in the semitic
languages for Abraham.
The language of the Jewish scripture
the Tanakh, the Hebrew Bible and the
Dead Sea Scrolls.
Spoken mainly in Israel.
Consists of 22 alphabets.
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Hebrew, the Language of

the Israelites

Due to the various Diasporas and

Holocausts, the language almost
become extinct in times and hence it
was revived several times.
Due to its revival, it was differed from
time to time.
And the only oldest clue left of the
almost original Hebrew text was
that of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
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Aramaic, lingua franca throughout

the Ancient Mediterranean
Aramaic is the language
developed on the Phoenician
language.
Aramaic is one of those
languages that was developed
and contributed by different
people from different time and
context.
Its the language spoken by
Jesus Christ and is the original
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Aramaic, lingua franca throughout

the Ancient Mediterranean
It also have 22 alphabets.

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Aramaic, lingua franca throughout

the Ancient Mediterranean

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Hebrew and Aramaic

Literature: The Dead Sea
Scrolls

Estimated to be written around 408

BCE to 318 CE.
There are 225 Biblical texts included
in the Dead Sea Scroll documents and
the others are non-biblical in nature
and were thought to be insignificant
for understanding the composition or
canonization of the Biblical books and
are assumed to be apocryphal texts.
But yet the teachings and
significance of these Dead Sea Scrolls
are one of the topics that scholars are
still debating about.
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Hebrew and Aramiac

Literature: The Dead Sea Scroll
Contains the biblical accounts
and stories of the Abrahamic
faits.
Discovered between1946 and
1956 in 11 different caves
surrounding the dead sea.
Contains 981 different texts
out of which most of them are
written in Old Hebrew.
And some other are written in
Aramaic and Greek.
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Arabic, the most spoken semitic

language today.

Spoken mostly in the Middle East.

It is one of the semitic languages that had
survived in its original literary state.
It consists of 28 alphabets.
Its language is preserved and derived from
the Quranic arabic - as the Quran is
assumed to be the only source of classical
arabic literature available from the past
due to lack literary influence in the past.
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Arabic Alphabets

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Oldest Arabic Literature: The

Quran
It is the holy book of the Muslims, believed
to be the direct word of God to humanity.
Contains teachings, laws and parables
mostly from the Abrahamic tradition.
Considered to be the oldest piece of
classical Arabic literary work studied by
both muslims and non-muslims alike.
Its structure are like that of poems and
hence also used to study as a source of
classical arabic poetry.
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Amharic, the official language of

Ethiopia.
It is the second-most spoken
Semitic language in the world, after
Arabic.
Language developed out of Geez.
Just like most of the other Semitic
languages it is developed from
Geez and there isnt much
literature written in old Amharic but
in Geez.
Hence those who studies Amharic
literature first studies Geez.
And one of the best piece of
literature studied is the
Kebra
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Geez Literature: Kebra

Nagest
Literally means The Glory of the Kings
Written in the 14th century.
The account of the Solomonic line of the
Ethiopian Emperor.
It narrates the account about how King Solomon
of Israel met Makeda, the Queen of Sheba.
Further it narrates about how the Ethiopian
people, from worshiping the sun, moon and the
stars came into the the worship and belief of
the God of Israel
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Tigrinya, the Linga Franca of

the African Horn
Spoken mainly in Ethiopia and Eritrea
by the ethnical groups and is
considered to be the national language.
Although different, is strongly
influenced by Geez.
The earliest written of Tigrinya is a text
of local laws found in the district of
Logosarda, Debub Region (southern
Eritrea) and Northern Ethiopia, which
dates from the 13th century and the
Gospels which were translated during
the mid 19th century.
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Tigrinya Literature: The

Translation of the Gospels
Translation of the 4 Gospels of
Matthew, Mark, Luke and John for the
Eritrean Christians.
It is one of the sources for the studies
of the Tigrinya Literature.

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Thank You!

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