Hamito-Semitic

[ ham-i-toh-suh-mit-ik ]

/ ˈhæm ɪ toʊ səˈmɪt ɪk /

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adjective, noun

(no longer in technical use) Afroasiatic.

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Origin of Hamito-Semitic

First recorded in 1865–70; Hamit(ic) + -o- + Semitic

historical usage of Hamito-Semitic

In the Middle Ages, all the peoples known to Europeans were believed to be descendents of one of Noah’s three sons—peoples of Africa from Ham, peoples of the Middle East from Shem, and peoples of Europe from Japheth. A large language family found across much of North Africa and some parts of the Middle East eventually became known as “Hamito-Semitic,” after Ham and Shem. That designation is no longer in technical use because the so-called “Hamitic” languages don't actually form a single group within the “Hamito-Semitic” family of languages, which are now called the Afroasiatic languages.

Words nearby Hamito-Semitic

Hamiltonstovare, Hamishah Asar Bishevat, Hamite, Hamitic, Hamiticized, Hamito-Semitic, hamlet, Hamlin, Hamlisch, Hamlyn, Hamm

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use Hamito-Semitic in a sentence

A few years back, designer John Galliano was fined by the government for sharing just such anti-semitic sentiments in public.
Politicians Only Love Journalists When They're Dead|Luke O’Neil|January 8, 2015|DAILY BEAST
The “doctorate” Duke claims is from an anti-Semitic Ukranian “diploma mill” as described by the State Department.
The Price of Steve Scalise’s Silence|Jason Berry|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Parliament looks at measures to monitor toddlers for anti-Semitic speech.
Britain May Spy on Preschoolers Searching for Potential Jihadis|Nico Hines|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Though he would insist in a famous essay in Other Inquisitions that “For several reasons I am not anti-Semitic.”
Borges Had A Genius For Literature But Not Love Or Much Else|Allen Barra|October 24, 2014|DAILY BEAST

Hitler was profoundly anti-Semitic, but he was also anti-Modern.
How Jews Created American Modernism|Andrew Romano|August 1, 2014|DAILY BEAST
There is an air of anxious expectancy about him, with a look of Semitic shrewdness in the long, narrow face.
Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist|Alexander Berkman
We now understand how the Phoenicians, whose ancestors arrived in the second Semitic migration, came to call their land “Canaan.”
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 5, Slice 2|Various
In any case, there they stand; a token of how thoroughly the most primitive form of Semitic religion is a living reality to-day.
The Cradle of Mankind|W.A. Wigram
They spoke a non-Semitic language, and were the oldest inhabitants of Babylonia of whom we have any knowledge.
Myths of Babylonia and Assyria|Donald A. Mackenzie
The possibility that unidentified types may have contributed to the Semitic blend, however, remains.
Myths of Babylonia and Assyria|Donald A. Mackenzie

British Dictionary definitions for Hamito-Semitic

Hamito-Semitic

noun

a former name for Afro-Asiatic (def. 1)

adjective

denoting or belonging to this family of languages

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012