Shemitic Languages
Smith’s Bible Dictionary (1863)
the family of languages spoken by the descendants of Shem, chiefly the Hebrew, Chaldaic, Assyrian, Arabic Phoenician and Aramaic or Syriac. The Jews in their earlier history spoke the Hebrew, but in Christ’s time they spoke the Aramaic, sometimes called the Syro-Chaldaic.
Public-domain reference works, shown as published. They are historical and may differ from current scholarship; Aide names the interpretive tradition where it matters in the Lens and classes.