Hamitic

American  

[ha-mit-ik, huh-] / hæˈmɪt ɪk, hə- /

noun

1. (especially formerly) the non-Semitic branches of the Afroasiatic language family.

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adjective

1. of or relating to the Hamites or Hamitic.

Hamitic British  

/ hæˈmɪtɪk, hə- /

noun

1. a group of N African languages related to Semitic. They are now classified in four separate subfamilies of the Afro-Asiatic family: Egyptian, Berber, Cushitic, and Chadic

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adjective

1. denoting, relating to, or belonging to this group of languages

2. denoting, belonging to, or characteristic of the Hamites

Other Word Forms

• non-Hamitic
  adjective

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Etymology

Origin of Hamitic

First recorded in 1880–85; Hamite + -ic

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Hamitic

A proud people, tall, lithe' and fine-featured, the Somalis are Hamitic in origin, descended in part from 7th century Arabs who crossed into Africa from Yemen.

From Time Magazine Archive

The majority of the people are of the Eastern Hamitic family mixed with cultured Himyaritic Semites from South Arabia.

From Time Magazine Archive

The proof of negation is not the strongest proof, but it is something to assert that they are neither of Japhetic or Hamitic origin.

From Incentives to the Study of the Ancient Period of American History An address, delivered before the New York Historical Society, at its forty-second anniversary, 17th November 1846 by Henry Rowe Schoolcraft

"But that would throw the prehistoric Libyan and Hamitic migrations farther to the west than——" "Pre-cisely!" interrupted Winkleman.

From The Leopard Woman by Stewart Edward White

Japhetic, ja-fet′ik, adj. a term formerly applied in ethnology to European peoples, the supposed descendants of Japhet, as opposed to Hamitic and Semitic.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 2 of 4: E-M) by Various

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