Editing Semitic languages (section)

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

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

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 the Wiktionary appendix [[wikt:Appendix:List of Proto-Semitic stems|List of Proto-Semitic stems]].