the extinct language of the Himyarites, belonging to the SE Semitic subfamily of the Afro-Asiatic family
adjective
2.
of, relating to, or using this language
Himyaritic in American English
(ˌhɪmjəˈrɪtɪk)
adjective
1.
of or pertaining to the Himyarites and to the remains of their civilization
noun
2.
a Semitic language anciently spoken in southern Arabia: extinct by 1100
Word origin
[1850–55; himyarite + -ic]This word is first recorded in the period 1850–55. Other words that entered Englishat around the same time include: cloakroom, ethos, headhunting, heavyweight, runoff-ic is a suffix forming adjectives from other parts of speech, occurring originally inGreek and Latin loanwords (metallic; poetic; archaic; public) and, on this model, used as an adjective-forming suffix with the particular senses“having some characteristics of” (opposed to the simple attributive use of the basenoun) (balletic; sophomoric); “in the style of” (Byronic; Miltonic); “pertaining to a family of peoples or languages” (Finnic; Semitic; Turkic)