In
paleolinguistics, a Semitism is a grammatical or syntactical behaviour in a language which reveals that the influence of a
Semitic language
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 immigrant ...
is present. The most common example is the influence of
Aramaic
The Aramaic languages, short Aramaic ( syc, ܐܪܡܝܐ, Arāmāyā; oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; tmr, אֲרָמִית), are a language family containing many varieties (languages and dialects) that originated i ...
on some texts written in
Jewish Koine Greek.
[Jonathan T. Pennington Heaven and Earth in the Gospel of Matthew - Page 105 - 2007 "This nuanced difference between a “Semitic enhancement” and a “Semitism” enables us to reconsider whether an apparent linguistic anomaly in Greek (such as plural) is truly a "Semitism" and not merely an "enhancement".]
References
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Language contact
Semitic languages