https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semitic_people
Semitic people or Semites is a term for an ethnic, cultural or racial group^[2] <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semitic_people#cite_note-FOOTNOTELiverani1995392-2^[3] <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semitic_people#cite_note-Lutz-3> ^[4] <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semitic_people#cite_note-Pope-4> ^[5] <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semitic_people#cite_note-GlöcknerFireberg2015-5> associated with people of the Middle East <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_East> and the Horn of Africa <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horn_of_Africa>, including Akkadians <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akkadian_Empire> (Assyrians <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assyrian_people> and Babylonians <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylonia>), Arabs <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabs>, Arameans <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arameans>, Canaanites <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canaan#Canaanites> (Ammonites <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammon>, Edomites <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edomites>, Israelites <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israelites>, Moabites <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moabites>, Phoenicians <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenicia>, and Philistines <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philistines>) and Habesha <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habesha_peoples> peoples. The terminology is now largely unused outside the grouping "Semitic languages <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semitic_languages>" in linguistics.^[6] <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semitic_people#cite_note-FOOTNOTEAnidjar2008(Foreword)-6> ^[7] <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semitic_people#cite_note-FOOTNOTEAnidjar20086-7> ^[8] <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semitic_people#cite_note-Lewis-8> First used in the 1770s by members of the Göttingen school of history <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6ttingen_school_of_history>, this biblical terminology for race <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biblical_terminology_for_race> was derived from Shem <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shem> (שֵׁם), one of the three sons of Noah <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sons_of_Noah> in the Book of Genesis <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Genesis>,^[9] <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semitic_people#cite_note-9> together with the parallel terms Hamites <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamites> and Japhetites <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japhetites>.
In archaeology, the term is sometimes used informally <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colloquialismas "a kind of shorthand" for ancient Semitic-speaking peoples <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Semitic-speaking_peoples>.^[8] <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semitic_people#cite_note-Lewis-8> Identification of pro-Caucasian racism <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racism> has either partially or completely devalued the use of the term as a racial <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racial> category, with the caveat that an inverse assessment would still be considered scientifically obsolete <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_race_concepts>.