The West Semitic languages are a proposed major sub-grouping of the Semitic languages, the other major division being the long extinct East Semitic languages. The term was coined in 1883 by the German orientalist Fritz Hommel.
Facts
Disputed
Proto-Language StatusWest Semitic has no separately reconstructed proto-language of its own in general use; it names a proposed major sub-grouping of Semitic set against East Semitic (the extinct Akkadian and Eblaite languages), a division coined by Fritz Hommel in 1883. Its internal shape stays contested: Robert Hetzron and John Huehnergard group Arabic with Northwest Semitic as Central Semitic, while a traditional classification instead groups Arabic with South Semitic (Ethiopic and Old and Modern South Arabian). 1 Classification breadth is genuinely disputed among linguists, per the cited article; the West Semitic node itself, not just one fact about it, is the debated part. Sources
1. Wikipedia: West Semitic languages
Wikimedia Foundationinfobox, region field
Middle East
lead and Classification section
a proposed major sub-grouping of Semitic languages, the other being the long-extinct East Semitic languages division
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