Editing Afroasiatic languages (section)

===Semitic===
{{main|Semitic languages}}
There are between 40 and 80 languages in the Semitic family.{{sfn|Meyer|Wolff|2019|p=262}} Today, Semitic languages are spoken across North Africa, West Asia, and the Horn of Africa, as well as on the island of Malta, making them the sole Afroasiatic branch with members originating outside Africa.{{sfn|Lipiński|2001|p=24}}{{sfn|Meyer|Wolff|2019|p=262}} Arabic, spoken in both Asia and Africa, is by far the most widely spoken Afroasiatic language today,{{sfn|Almansa-Villatoro|Štubňová Nigrelli|2023|p=3}} with around 300 million native speakers, while the Ethiopian Amharic language has around 25 million; collectively, Semitic is the largest branch of Afroasiatic by number of current speakers.{{sfn|Meyer|Wolff|2019|p=249}}

Most authorities divide Semitic into two branches: East Semitic, which includes the extinct Akkadian language, and West Semitic, which includes Arabic, Aramaic, the Canaanite languages (including Hebrew), as well as the Ethiopian Semitic languages such as Geʽez and Amharic.{{sfn|Hayward|2000|pp=78–80}} The classification within West Semitic remains contested. The only group with an African origin is Ethiopian Semitic.{{sfn|Meyer|Wolff|2019|p=262}} The oldest written attestations of Semitic languages come from Mesopotamia, Northern Syria, and Egypt and date as early as c. 3000 BCE.{{sfn|Lipiński|2001|p=24}}