Semitic, << suh MIHT ihk, >> languages are among the world’s oldest languages. They are generally divided into three categories: North East Semitic (Akkadian); North West Semitic (Hebrew, Aramaic, Eblaite); and Central and Southern Semitic (Arabic, South Arabian, Ethiopic). Amharic, Arabic, Hebrew, and Tigre are the principal spoken Semitic languages today. Aramaic survives as a spoken language in a small number of communities of Assyrian Christians in the Middle East.
Documents in Akkadian and Eblaite have been found on tablets written in cuneiform, an ancient writing system with wedge-shaped characters. The alphabets of the other Semitic languages developed from a common source. However, they gradually formed into the separate writing systems of Hebrew and Arabic used today.
