Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Semitic \Sem*it"ic\, a.
   Of or pertaining to Shem or his descendants; belonging to
   that division of the Caucasian race which includes the Arabs,
   Jews, and related races. [Written also {Shemitic}.]

   {Semitic language}, a name used to designate a group of
      Asiatic and African languages, some living and some dead,
      namely: Hebrew and Ph[oe]nician, Aramaic, Assyrian,
      Arabic, Ethiopic (Geez and Ampharic). --Encyc. Brit.