Semitic people
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Semitic people is an outdated term that was historically used to describe ethnic groups from the Middle East region. While no longer widely used by scholars, the term remains significant because it appears in historical texts and discussions about the origins of various Middle Eastern cultures and peoples.
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In his 1771 book Introduction to Synchronic Universal History (German: Einleitung in die Synchronistische Universalhistorie) Johann Christoph Gatterer depicts the first historical ethnology of the world separated into the biblical sons of Noah: Semites, Hamites and Japhetites. Gatterer's view is that modern history has shown the truth of the biblical prediction of Japhetite supremacy (Genesis 9:25–27). Click the image for a transcription of the text.
Semitic people or Semites is an obsolete term for an ethnic, cultural or racial group formerly used in connection with ancient and modern peoples of the Middle East and the Horn of Africa, including Akkadians (Assyrians and Babylonians), Arabs, Ammonites, Arameans, Canaanites, Edomites, Habesha peoples, Israelites, Jews, Judahites, Moabites, Phoenicians, Samaritans, and others. Use of the terminology is now largely confined to the field of linguistics in reference to "Semitic languages". However, the term is sometimes still used colloquially as a shorthand for Semitic-speaking peoples.