Encyclopedia of Hebrew Language and Linguistics

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Afroasiatic and Hebrew: History of Scholarship
(870 words)

The Semitic family, of which Hebrew is a member (Semitic Language, Hebrew as a), is part of a larger macro-family that is usually called Afroasiatic. The term Hamito-Semitic has been used in the past, but Afroasiatic is preferable, since the former inaccurately implies a binary split between Semitic and the other (Hamitic) branches. Other language families within Afroasiatic are Egyptian, Cushitic, Berber, and Chadic. The inclusion of an additional family, Omotic, remains debated. Some believe Omotic to be a…

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Rubin, Aaron D., “Afroasiatic and Hebrew: History of Scholarship”, in: Encyclopedia of Hebrew Language and Linguistics, Edited by: Geoffrey Khan. Consulted online on 19 March 2024 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2212-4241_ehll_EHLL_COM_00000880>
First published online: 2013
First print edition: 9789004176423



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