<sod>The term '''Semitic people''' or '''Semitic cultures''' (from the [[Bible|biblical]] "[[Shem]]", {{lang-he|שם}}) was a [[Historical race concepts|historical term for people or cultures]] who speak or spoke the [[Semitic languages]].<ref name=Lewis>{{cite book|title=Semites and Anti-Semites: An Inquiry into Conflict and Prejudice|publisher=W W Norton & Co Inc|date=1987|isbn=0393304205|url=http://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/who-are-the-semites/#|authorlink=Bernard Lewis|first=Bernard|last=Lewis|quote=The confusion between race and language goes back a long way, and was compounded by the rapidly changing content of the word “race” in European and later in American usage. Serious scholars have pointed out–repeatedly and ineffectually-‑that “Semitic” is a linguistic and cultural classification, denoting certain languages and in some contexts the literatures and civilizations expressed in those languages. As  kind of shorthand, it was sometimes retained to designate the speakers of those languages. At one time it might thus have had a connotation of race, when that word itself was used to designate national and cultural entities. It has nothing whatever to do with race in the anthropological sense that is now common usage. A glance at the present‑day speakers of Arabic, from Khartoum to Aleppo and from Mauritania to Mosul, or even of Hebrew speakers in the modern state of Israel, will suffice to show the enormous diversity of racial types.}}</ref><ref name=Lutz>[http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:635252/FULLTEXT02.pdf On the use of the terms “(anti-)Semitic” and “(anti-) Zionist” in modern Middle Eastern discourse, Orientalia Suecana LXI Suppl. (2012)] by [http://www.hf.uio.no/ikos/english/people/aca/lutze/ Lutz Eberhard Edzard]: "In linguistics context, the term “Semitic” is generally speaking non-controversial... As an ethnic term, “Semitic” should best be avoided these days, in spite of ongoing genetic research (which also is supported by the Israeli scholarly community itself) that tries to scientifically underpin such a concept."</ref><ref name=Pope>[http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/store/10.1525/aa.1965.67.4.02a00420/asset/aa.1965.67.4.02a00420.pdf?v=1&t=i4bw857p&s=4831143fafc516caded9a9a9bc60d5e350edbcde Review of "The Canaanites" (1964)] by [http://www.nytimes.com/1997/06/21/arts/marvin-pope-80-professor-and-authority-on-ancient-ugarit.html Marvin Pope]: "The term “Semitic,” coined by Schlozer in 1781, should be strictly limited to linguistic matters since this is the only area in which a degree of objectivity is attainable. The Semitic languages comprise a fairly distinct linguistic family, a fact appreciated long before the relationship of the Indo-European languages was recognized. The ethnography and ethnology of the various peoples who spoke or still speak Semitic languages or dialects is a much more mixed and confused matter and one over which we have little scientific control."</ref> The racial or ethnic use of the term, together with the parallel terms [[Hamitic]] and [[Japhetic]], is now obsolete.<ref name=Lewis/><ref name=Lutz/><ref name=Pope/><eod>
<sod>The term '''Semitic people''' or '''Semitic cultures''' (from the [[Bible|biblical]] "[[Shem]]", {{lang-he|שם}}) was a [[Historical race concepts|historical term for people or cultures]] who speak or spoke the [[Semitic languages]].<ref name=Lewis>{{cite book|title=Semites and Anti-Semites: An Inquiry into Conflict and Prejudice|publisher=W W Norton & Co Inc|date=1987|isbn=0393304205|url=http://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/who-are-the-semites/#|authorlink=Bernard Lewis|first=Bernard|last=Lewis|quote=The confusion between race and language goes back a long way, and was compounded by the rapidly changing content of the word “race” in European and later in American usage. Serious scholars have pointed out–repeatedly and ineffectually-‑that “Semitic” is a linguistic and cultural classification, denoting certain languages and in some contexts the literatures and civilizations expressed in those languages. As a kind of shorthand, it was sometimes retained to designate the speakers of those languages. At one time it might thus have had a connotation of race, when that word itself was used to designate national and cultural entities. It has nothing whatever to do with race in the anthropological sense that is now common usage. A glance at the present‑day speakers of Arabic, from Khartoum to Aleppo and from Mauritania to Mosul, or even of Hebrew speakers in the modern state of Israel, will suffice to show the enormous diversity of racial types.}}</ref><ref name=Lutz>[http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:635252/FULLTEXT02.pdf On the use of the terms “(anti-)Semitic” and “(anti-) Zionist” in modern Middle Eastern discourse, Orientalia Suecana LXI Suppl. (2012)] by [http://www.hf.uio.no/ikos/english/people/aca/lutze/ Lutz Eberhard Edzard]: "In linguistics context, the term “Semitic” is generally speaking non-controversial... As an ethnic term, “Semitic” should best be avoided these days, in spite of ongoing genetic research (which also is supported by the Israeli scholarly community itself) that tries to scientifically underpin such a concept."</ref><ref name=Pope>[http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/store/10.1525/aa.1965.67.4.02a00420/asset/aa.1965.67.4.02a00420.pdf?v=1&t=i4bw857p&s=4831143fafc516caded9a9a9bc60d5e350edbcde Review of "The Canaanites" (1964)] by [http://www.nytimes.com/1997/06/21/arts/marvin-pope-80-professor-and-authority-on-ancient-ugarit.html Marvin Pope]: "The term “Semitic,” coined by Schlozer in 1781, should be strictly limited to linguistic matters since this is the only area in which a degree of objectivity is attainable. The Semitic languages comprise a fairly distinct linguistic family, a fact appreciated long before the relationship of the Indo-European languages was recognized. The ethnography and ethnology of the various peoples who spoke or still speak Semitic languages or dialects is a much more mixed and confused matter and one over which we have little scientific control."</ref> The racial or ethnic use of the term, together with the parallel terms [[Hamitic]] and [[Japhetic]], is now obsolete.<ref name=Lewis/><ref name=Lutz/><ref name=Pope/><eod>