Semitic studies, or Semitology, is the academic field dedicated to the studies of
Semitic languages
The Semitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They are spoken by more than 330 million people across much of West Asia, the Horn of Africa, and latterly North Africa, Malta, West Africa, Chad, and in large immigra ...
and literatures and the history of the Semitic-speaking peoples. A person may be called a ''Semiticist'' or a ''Semitist'', both terms being equivalent.
It includes
Assyriology,
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...
,
Hebraist,
Syriacist and
Ethiopian studies, as well as comparative studies of Semitic languages aiming at the reconstruction of
Proto-Semitic
Proto-Semitic is the hypothetical reconstructed proto-language ancestral to the Semitic languages. There is no consensus regarding the location of the Proto-Semitic '' Urheimat''; scholars hypothesize that it may have originated in the Levant ( ...
.
See also
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Asian studies
*
African studies
African studies is the study of Africa, especially the continent's cultures and societies (as opposed to its geology, geography, zoology, etc.). The field includes the study of Africa's history (pre-colonial, colonial, post-colonial), demography ...
*
Philology
Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as th ...
Sources
*
Gotthelf Bergsträsser: ''Einführung in die semitischen Sprachen: Sprachproben und grammatische Skizzen'', Nachdruck, Darmstadt 1993.
*
Carl Brockelmann: ''Grundriss der vergleichenden Grammatik der semitischen Sprachen'', Bd. 1-2, 1908/1913.
*
David Cohen: ''Dictionnaire des racines sémitiques ou attestées dans les langues sémitiques''.
*Giovanni Garbini, Olivier Durand: ''Introduzione alle lingue semitiche'' (1994), (review: Franz Rosenhal; The Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 116, 1996).
*
Robert Hetzron (ed.): ''The Semitic Languages'', London 1997.
*Burkhart Kienast: ''Historische semitische Sprachwissenschaft'', Wiesbaden 2001.
External links
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