Afrasianadj.n.
/afrˈeɪʃ(ə)n/, U.S. /æfrˈeɪʒ(ə)n/ A. adj.
Of, belonging, or relating to Africa and Asia considered together; spec. designating the group of languages also known as Hamito-Semitic.Cf. Afro-Asian adj., Afro-Asiatic adj., Hamito-Semitic adj., Semito-Hamitic n.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > languages of the world > Afro-Asiatic > [adjective]
Hamitic1827
Hamitic-Semitic1870
Hamito-Semitic1879
Semito-Hamitic1879
Semitic-Hamitic1903
Afrasian1908
Afro-Asiatic1922
1908 S. Afr. Med. Rec. 25 Feb. 54/2 Classification of the races dwelling in South Africa... Mixed—Eurafrican, Eurasian, Afrasian.
1970 Cambr. Anc. Hist. (ed. 3) I. i. 19 The northward movement of the Afrasian block against the Eurasian land mass.
1974 Encycl. Brit. Macropædia VIII. 589/2 Also known as the Semito-Hamitic, Erythraean, Afro-Asiatic, and Afrasian language group, it [sc. Hamito-Semitic] is the main language family of northern Africa and southwestern Asia.
1988 A. Hashmi Inland & Other Poems 65 He [sc. an animal] was caught and dragged to an expensive zoo up north. There he was..prized for his Afrasian antics.
1988 I. M. Diakonoff (title) Afrasian languages.
2011 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 16 June e2/3 Samples from her furniture line..which she describes as ‘Afrasian’ for its combination of African and Asian influences.
B. n.
Something that relates to both Africa and Asia; spec. the group of languages also known as Hamito-Semitic.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > languages of the world > Afro-Asiatic > [noun]
Hamite1598
Hamitic1862
Hamito-Semitic1879
Semito-Hamitic1910
Semitic-Hamitic1922
Hamitic-Semitic1936
Afro-Asiatic1950
Afrasian1961
1961 (title of journal) Afrasian (The newspaper of the School of Oriental and African Studies Students' Union).
1989 Times Lit. Suppl. 17 Nov. 1264/1 Nearly forty years ago..Joseph Greenburg..was able to bring clear definition to the large cluster of languages we now call Afrasian or Afro-Asiatic.
1998 A. Dalby Dict. Langs. Introd. p. xii So we have Semito-Hamitic, Hamito-Semitic, Afroasiatic, Afrasian and Erythraic, all as alternative names for the same language family.
2005 A. Zaborski in W. J. Frawley Internat. Encycl. Linguistics (Online text) at Afroasiatic Languages New names for the whole [Hamito-Semitic] family, such as ‘Erythraic’ and ‘Lisramic’, have gained little acceptance, but contracted ‘Afrasian’ is used by some scholars.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, September 2012; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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adj.n.1908