Editing Semitic languages (section)

==Name and identification==
[[File:1538 comparison of Hebrew and Arabic, Guillaume Postel.png|thumb|1538 comparison of Hebrew and Arabic, by [[Guillaume Postel]]{{snd}} possibly the first such representation in Western European literature.]]
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 East]]ern countries and through [[Biblical studies]], and a comparative analysis of Hebrew, Arabic, and Aramaic was published in Latin in 1538 by [[Guillaume Postel]].{{sfn|Kuntz|1981|p=25}} Almost two centuries later, [[Hiob Ludolf]] described the similarities between these three languages and the [[Ethio-Semitic languages]].{{sfn|Ruhlen|1991|p=}}{{page needed|date=December 2021}} However, neither scholar named this grouping as "Semitic".{{sfn|Ruhlen|1991|p=}}{{page needed|date=December 2021}}

The term "Semitic" was created by members of the [[Göttingen school of history]], initially by [[August Ludwig von Schlözer]] (1781), to designate the languages closely related to Arabic, Aramaic, and Hebrew.<ref name="Vermeulen 2015 p. 252">{{cite book | last=Vermeulen | first=H.F. | title=Before Boas: The Genesis of Ethnography and Ethnology in the German Enlightenment | publisher=University of Nebraska Press | series=Critical Studies in the History of Anthropology Series | year=2015 | isbn=978-0-8032-7738-0 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B1nxCQAAQBAJ&pg=PT252 | access-date=2022-10-07 | quote=Schlözer 1781: p.161 "From the Mediterranean to the Euphrates, from Mesopotamia to Arabia ruled one language, as is well known. Thus Syrians, Babylonians, Hebrews, and Arabs were one people (ein Volk). Phoenicians (Hamites) also spoke this language, which I would like to call the Semitic (die Semitische). To the north and east of this Semitic language and national district (Semitische Sprach- und VölkerBezirke) begins a second one: With Moses and Leibniz I would like to call it the Japhetic." | archive-date=7 October 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221007163627/https://books.google.com/books?id=B1nxCQAAQBAJ&pg=PT252 | url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Kiraz|2001|p=25}}; {{harvnb|Baasten|2003|p=67}}</ref> 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]],{{sfn|Kiraz|2001|p=25}} or more precisely from the [[Koine Greek]] rendering of the name, {{nowrap|Σήμ (Sēm)}}. [[Johann Gottfried Eichhorn]] is credited with popularising the term,{{sfn|Baasten|2003|p=68-69}}{{sfn|Kitto|1845|p=192}}{{sfn|Kiraz|2001|p=25}} 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]]:<ref>{{harvnb|Eichhorn|1794|pp=773–6}}; {{harvnb|Baasten|2003|p=69}}</ref>
{{blockquote|text=In the Mosaic [[Table of Nations]], those names which are listed as [[Semitic people|Semite]]s 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 there, either through contact with the Semites, or through their settlement among them, became familiar with their syllabograms or alphabetic script, and partly adopted them. Viewed from this aspect too, with respect to the alphabet used, the name "Semitic languages" is completely appropriate.<ref>[[Johann Gottfried Eichhorn]], ''Semitische Sprachen''', 1795</ref>}}

Previously these languages had been commonly known as the "{{nowrap|[[Orient]]al languages}}" in European literature.<ref>{{harvnb|Kiraz|2001|p=25}}; {{harvnb|Kitto|1845|p=192}}</ref> In the 19th century, "Semitic" became the conventional name; however, an alternative name, "{{nowrap|Syro-Arabian languages}}", was later introduced by [[James Cowles Prichard]] and used by some writers.{{sfn|Kitto|1845|p=192}}