| 释义 |
Semitic, a. and n.|sɪˈmɪtɪk|
Also 9 Semmetic.
[ad. mod.L. Sēmīticus, f. Sēmīta Semite. Cf. F. sémitique, Sp., Pg., It. semitico, G. semitisch. Cf. Shemitic.]
A. adj. Of or pertaining to the Semites. (In recent use often spec. = Jewish.)
1826Pritchard Res. Phys. Hist. Mankind II. 210 The Semitic nations. 1835J. B. Robertson tr. Schlegel's Philos. Hist. vi. (1846) 206 The people of the Semitic race. 1839T. Mitchell Frogs of Aristoph. Add. 411 note, The Semitic origin of this worship. 1885Flower in Jrnl. Anthrop. Inst. XIV. 382 Hamitic and Semitic Melanochroi. 1886[see Semitism 1 b].
b. In linguistic sense: The distinctive epithet of that family of languages of which Hebrew, Aramæan, Arabic, Ethiopic, and ancient Assyrian, are the principal members. Hence (in Semitic scholar, Semitic studies, Semitic grammar, Semitic philology, etc.) concerned with the Semitic languages.
1813Q. Rev. X. 267 (Adelung's Mithridates) The Arabian family is called by our author Semitic. 1827Buckingham Trav. Mesopot. II. 385 In any of the Semmetic languages. 1850Donaldson New Cratylus (ed. 2) §100. 150 These arguments of the great Semitic scholar have been violently combated by one of his countrymen. 1877Smith & Wace's Dict. Chr. Biog. I. 470/1 (Chosroes), There is a large Semitic element in the Pehlvi language.
B. n.
a. A Semite (rare).
b. The Semitic family of languages; occas. the Semitic language of Babylon in opposition to Sumerian.
c. pl. U.S. The scientific study of the language, literature, etc. of Semitic peoples.
1875Whitney Life & Growth Lang. xii. 251 The scale of dialectic differences is much less in Semitic than in Indo-European. 1879tr. Brugsch's Hist. Egypt II. 107 note, A very remarkable word which shows a full knowledge of Semitic in the writer. 1886Athenæum 21 Aug. 238 [Pauli's] view that the Etruscans were neither Indo-Europeans nor Semitics. 1895Min. 9th Nat. Council Congr. Ch. (U.S.A.) 239 With the growing interest in Semitics..it is not easy to get the time for study which these subjects demand. 1899Sir H. H. Howorth in Eng. Hist. Rev. Oct. 626 Written in the primitive language of Babylonia and in Semitic.
Hence Seˈmiticism = Semitism.
1907Expositor Nov. 434 The number of real Semiticisms is therefore smaller than was supposed. 1908Spectator 18 Apr. 625/1 Further, he discusses the ‘semiticism’ of the Greek Bible,—what it is, and what it is not. |