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Semitic languages and peoples
The formation of Semitic community and migration
Scientific news
Briefly in Amharic
Briefly in Arabic
Briefly in Hebrew
Briefly in Maltese
References
Semitic languages – one of the branches of the Semitic-Hamitic family of languages, which is also called the Afro-Asian or Afro-Asian macro-family of languages common in North Africa, Southwest Asia and the island of Malta. They are divided into 5 (or 6) main branches: Semitic, Egyptian, Berber-Libyan, Chadian, Cushite and Omot (sometimes considered as a Cushite branch). The Afrasian family, in turn, is part of an even larger language family – the Nostratic. Nostratic languages (from Lat. Noster – ours), a macro-family of languages, including a number of language families and languages of Eurasia and Africa (Indo-European, Kartvelian, Afrasian, Uralic, Altai, Dravidian languages, etc.).
Semitic languages consist of groups: 1) north-peripheral, or eastern (extinct Akkadian with dialects of Assyrian and Babylonian); 2) north-central, or north-western [living – Hebrew and New Aramaic dialects, united under the name of the Assyrian (New Syriac) language; the dead – Eblaite, Amorite, Canaanite, Ugaritic, Phoenician-Punic, Aramaic dialects; Ancient Aramaic, Imperial Aramaic, Western Aramaic – Palmyra, Nabatean, Palestinian; East Aramaic – Syriac, or Syriac, Babylonian-Talmudic, Mandean]; 3) south-central [Arabic (with dialects) and Maltese]; 4) south-peripheral (living – Mehri, Shkhauri, Socotri, etc.; dead – Minean, Sabei, Kataban); 5) Ethiosemitic (living – tiger, tigray, or tigrinya, Amharic, argobba, etc.; dead – geez (ge’ez), or Ethiopian, hafat). Modern Semitic languages are divided into: South Semitic, including Arabic (literary, colloquial, disintegrating into a number of dialects, and Maltese), Amharic, gurage, Harar, tiger, tigrinya (the last five are in Ethiopia and Eritrea), Ehkili and Mehri in South Arabia and Socotri on the island of Socotra; North-Western languages, including the New Syriac and other living dialects of the Aramaic language, Moabite and Hebrew, or Hebrew, now the official language in Israel (Canaanite group), as well as languages and dialects of the Aramaic group.
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Punctuation marks are written upside down, that is, from left to right. In phonetic terms, the slave language is distinguished by an abundance of consonant phonemes, especially laryngeal, emphatic, and also interdental. There are only three vowel phonemes; they can be short or long. Grammatically, the Arabic language, like other Semitic languages, is characterized by a significant development of inflection. The root of the word consists of one consonant, usually three, less often four or five. Verb forms are highly developed. The Arabic language has a ramified verb system, the basis of which are two forms that go back to the Semitic perfect and imperfect. Derivative fundamentals are expressed: the intensity of the action, orientation and aspiration, causation, return, competition, reciprocity, etc. The number of these fundamentals reaches 15; in this regard, the Arabic language is richer than other Semitic languages, morphologically formed times – two; there are two pledges – real and passive; moods: indicative, subjunctive, conditional, amplifying and imperative; instead of the indefinite form, the system of verb names is very developed. Numbers – three both in the verb and in the names: singular, dual and plural; There are two genera – male and female. In the field of names: three hopes, which, however, have disappeared in modern dialects; plural forms (for example, collective names) have developed significantly; a combination of two names (one in the so-called conjugated form and the second in the genitive case) expresses not only belonging and close connection of concepts, but also various relations of attribution. In the role of service words are usually used nouns and adjectives in the accusative case. The syntax of the Arabic language is poorly developed subordination of sentences; subordinate clauses are replaced by a simple combination of independent clauses or special verb forms. Spoken folk language in the Arab countries breaks up into a number of dialects, significantly different from the generally accepted literary language. Currently, these dialects are as follows: Arabian, Syrian, Iraqi, Egyptian and Maghrib (in North Africa). Dialects gradually developed on the basis of the interaction of the Arabic language and the old languages of the respective countries; for example, in the Arabic dialects of Syria and Iraq the elements of the Aramaic language are very strong, in the Egyptian dialect there are quite a lot of Coptic words. However, literary Arabic is generally understood in all of these countries. Of almost all names and verbs in the Arabic language, a root consisting of consonants alone can be distinguished. Formation of words occurs mainly due to the internal structural change of the word – internal inflection. In the Arabic language there are three numbers of names: singular, dual and plural. Definitions and verbs are consistent with nouns in number. In the Arabic language, there are three so-called state names: raf”, hafd (or jarr), nasb. Often they are translated as nominative, genitive and accusative cases, respectively. In Arabic, the definition is consistent with that defined in certainty, gender, number, case. At the same time, for “rational” names (calling people) in the plural, the definitions are in the form of the plural of the necessary genus, and for “unreasonable” (calling animals, inanimate objects) in the singular form of the female gender.
Amhara is the main population of Ethiopia. Belongs to the Ethiopian anthropological type of Negroid race. Amharic (Amarinya) – a Semitic group, is the official language of Ethiopia; the common religion is monophysite-style Christianity. Most of the modern population of Ethiopia speaks Semitic languages, in addition to Amhara, these are tigers, gurages, argobba and harari. Amharic is a living semitic language of a significant part of the Ethiopian population, belonging to the languages of the southern group. In the Amharic language, only three parts of speech are clearly distinguished: name, verb, particle; there is no clear difference between the noun and the adjective, there is no line between the preposition and the union. The stress in the Amharic language is weak. The written Amharic language is Ethiopian with additional characters; Amharic writing and printing require 296 characters. The oldest literary monuments date back to the XIV – XV centuries. The heyday of literature dates back to the 17th century. The southern and eastern peoples of Ethiopia are Cushitic languages: galla (self-name of Oromo), which fall into two groups: Tulam and sword, or lyek; Somalia; Danakil speaking Afar; yeah; nationalities known under the general name “sidamo” (“aliens” in the Gallic language). Ethiopia is the birthplace of humanity, here, as well as throughout eastern and southern Africa, the formation of representatives of ancient humanity took place. In the valley of the lower reaches of the Avash River, many paleontological objects were found, the oldest 4 million years. The region of Tiyi was found more than 30 archaeological sites of ancient culture, whose age also reads millions of years, the valley of the lower reaches of the Omo River, where the oldest petrified remains of paleoanthropes were found. In the 1st millennium BC. the peoples of South Arabian civilization migrated to the north of Ethiopia. And from the middle of the 1st millennium BC. Until the VI century, the territory of northern Ethiopia and Eritrea was the slave state of Axum. The penetration of Christianity into Axum dates back to the 4th century. XIII century sources first mention the Ethiopian state. It comes from the ancient Greek name of the countries south of Egypt. Another name of the country and inhabitants – Abyssinia, Abyssinians, apparently, comes from the name of one of the tribes of ancient Axum – habashat. But since the inhabitants of Ethiopia (Abyssinia) see in the words “Abyssinia”, “Abyssinians” a contemptuous connotation (the Arabic word “habash” means “confusion”, “mixed people”, “mestizos”), the name of the Greek has long been accepted as the official name of the country origin – Aytyopia (Ethiopia). Despite the fact that the inhabitants of the Abyssinian Highlands speak several languages and belong to different ethnic groups, they all call themselves, first of all, Ethiopians. Ethiopians have created a rich culture that has centuries ago. They are famous for their delicate jewelry, colorful embroideries, decorating clothes, skillful weaving. From the Neolithic era in Ethiopia, dolmens, stone monoliths and tombstones with primitive images of human figures have survived. Monuments of developed art (a statue of the king and others) date back to the 9th – 7th centuries BC. The architecture of the Aksumite state, where dams, residential buildings were built, round and square in plan, reached a significant rise. Palaces (the largest of them – Takha Mariam – was divided into three courtyards, had external staircases and halls with a cruciform plan). Tombstones-stela in the form of multi-storey towers (up to 33 m high) have been preserved. With the penetration of Christianity into Ethiopia, churches and monasteries began to be built: rock churches (in Lalibela), basilicas, and small round churches.
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