Semites facts for kids

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".

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.

Images for kids

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  The first depiction of historical ethnology of the world separated into the biblical sons of Noah: Semites, Hamites and Japhetites. Gatterer's Einleitung in die Synchronistische Universalhistorie (1771) explains his view that modern history has shown the truth of the biblical prediction of Japhetite supremacy (Genesis 9:25-27). Click the image for a transcription of the text.

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  This T and O map, 1472, from the first printed version of Isidore of Seville's Etymologiae, identifies the three known continents as populated by descendants of Sem (Shem), Iafeth (Japheth) and Cham (Ham).

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  1879 statute of the Antisemitic League, the organization which first popularized the term

See also

In Spanish: Pueblos semitas para niños