TooCute
04-12-2003, 06:59 PM
Why has the word "semite" come to be equivalent to the word "jew"?
definition of the word "Semite" (from Haywood's Historical Atlas of the Ancient World):
Speakers of the Semitic languages, which originated in Arabia and western Mesopotamia, and spread as the Semitic peoples migrated and conquered neighboring regions, either replacing existing populations or establishing ruling elites that imposed their own languages. These peoples include the Akkadians, Amorites, Cannanites, Hebrews, Aramaeans, Chaldeans, Phoenicians, Sabaens, and Arabs.
and just for further reference:
Hebrews: People with a shared languages and religious identity whose ancestors may once have lived in northwest Mesopotamia before settling in Palestine (Canaan) in the mid-2nd millennium BC. Some Hebrews probably migrated to Egypt, where they lived as serfs before returning to the Levant in the late 13th century BC (th biblical stories of Moses and Joshua), colonizing areas previously dominated by Canaanite and Philistine cities. The monotheistic religious doctrine of Judaism was firmly established in the 9th centurey BC.
Jews: Descendants of and converts to the religion of a people expelled from Palestine by the Romans in the 1st century. Their religion contributed the Old Testament of the Bible. Important Jewish settlements could be found from central Asia to Britain in the medieval period. In the west they were subject from the 12th century onward to persecution. Jews were periodically massacred, for example in 1096 in the Rhineland. Excluded from England and France by 1300, they took refuge in Spain until 1492 and in north Africa. In Islamic lands Judaism was a protected religion, though Jews were second-class citizens.
Arabs: Semitic people of the Arabian peninsula, the first to be converted to Islam. By the time of the emergenc of Islam they were polarized between the nomadic tribes of the interior and the trading cities of the coast. The Arabs were polytheistic, but communities of Jews and Christians were important in the cities. Between 622 and 632 the Arabs adopted Islam, which became the vehicle of their expansion beyond the peninsula.
Islam: The religion established by the Prophet Muhammad following divine revalations beginning in 610. After a series of military campaigns to covert the Arab people, from 632 Islam spread, largely by conquest, extending eventually from the Atlantic to southeast Asia. Islam is monotheistic and claims to be the last of a series of divine revalations to humans. Its success was aided by its capacity to assimilate the cultureal heritage of conquered territories without compromising the core of the religion itself.
<img src=http://thereisnogod.faithweb.com/images/toocute2.gif>
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definition of the word "Semite" (from Haywood's Historical Atlas of the Ancient World):
Speakers of the Semitic languages, which originated in Arabia and western Mesopotamia, and spread as the Semitic peoples migrated and conquered neighboring regions, either replacing existing populations or establishing ruling elites that imposed their own languages. These peoples include the Akkadians, Amorites, Cannanites, Hebrews, Aramaeans, Chaldeans, Phoenicians, Sabaens, and Arabs.
and just for further reference:
Hebrews: People with a shared languages and religious identity whose ancestors may once have lived in northwest Mesopotamia before settling in Palestine (Canaan) in the mid-2nd millennium BC. Some Hebrews probably migrated to Egypt, where they lived as serfs before returning to the Levant in the late 13th century BC (th biblical stories of Moses and Joshua), colonizing areas previously dominated by Canaanite and Philistine cities. The monotheistic religious doctrine of Judaism was firmly established in the 9th centurey BC.
Jews: Descendants of and converts to the religion of a people expelled from Palestine by the Romans in the 1st century. Their religion contributed the Old Testament of the Bible. Important Jewish settlements could be found from central Asia to Britain in the medieval period. In the west they were subject from the 12th century onward to persecution. Jews were periodically massacred, for example in 1096 in the Rhineland. Excluded from England and France by 1300, they took refuge in Spain until 1492 and in north Africa. In Islamic lands Judaism was a protected religion, though Jews were second-class citizens.
Arabs: Semitic people of the Arabian peninsula, the first to be converted to Islam. By the time of the emergenc of Islam they were polarized between the nomadic tribes of the interior and the trading cities of the coast. The Arabs were polytheistic, but communities of Jews and Christians were important in the cities. Between 622 and 632 the Arabs adopted Islam, which became the vehicle of their expansion beyond the peninsula.
Islam: The religion established by the Prophet Muhammad following divine revalations beginning in 610. After a series of military campaigns to covert the Arab people, from 632 Islam spread, largely by conquest, extending eventually from the Atlantic to southeast Asia. Islam is monotheistic and claims to be the last of a series of divine revalations to humans. Its success was aided by its capacity to assimilate the cultureal heritage of conquered territories without compromising the core of the religion itself.
<img src=http://thereisnogod.faithweb.com/images/toocute2.gif>
!! 2% !!<font color=FBF2F7>