obsolete term for an ethnic group in the Middle East From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Semites was a word used for people who speak a Semitic language like Arabic or Hebrew. Scientists don't use the words "Semites" or "Semitic peoples" any longer, but they still speak of "Semitic languages".[1][2][3][4][5]
The word "Semite" was taken from Shem, a son of Noah in Genesis (chapters 6-11). It was first used in the 1770s by German professors at Göttingen university.[6]
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