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Shem
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'''Shem''' ('''שֵׁם''' "renown; prosperity; name",
Standard Hebrew '''Šem''',
Tiberian Hebrew '''Šēm''';
Greek language Greek '''Σημ''', '''Sēm''') was one of the
sons of Noah in the
Bible. He is most popularly regarded as the eldest son, though some traditions regard him as the second son. He is mentioned in
Genesis 5:32, 6:10; 7:13; 9:18,23,26-27; 10; 11:10; also in
1 Chronicles 1:4.
Genesis 11:10 records that Shem was 100 years old when he gave birth to Arpachshad two years after the flood, making him 98 at the time of the flood; and that he lived for another 500 years after this, making his age at death 600 years.
The children of Shem were
Elam (Hebrew Bible) Elam,
Asshur,
Aram,
Arpachshad and
Lud son of Shem Lud, in addition to daughters. In the
New Testament, Luke lists the genealogy of
Jesus from Adam through Shem,
Abraham and
David.
Shem was the progenitor of the south-western nations of
Asia, being the father of Elam (
Persia),
Ashur (
Assyria),
Arpachshad or Arpachaxad (according to
Josephus,
Chaldea), from whom descended the
Hebrews and
Arabs,
Lud (
Lydia) and
Aram (
Syria).
Although both
Jews and
Arabic peoples derive their origins from '''Shem''', the name
Semitic is now almost exclusively used to refer to Jews.
Terms like "Shemites" and "sons" of an
eponymous "father" in general, are not supported outside of religious studies by modern historical scholarship. In the
Ancient Near East (and in the
Aegean_civilization Aegean), the earliest attempts at arriving at an
ethnology that would explain the contemporary sense that there were relative similarities and differences among neighboring or distant tribes, was expressed in terms of
genealogy; an approach reflected in terms like "Semite" and "Hamite". Neither "
Semite" nor "Hamite" are broadly used now, and are sometimes perceived as offensive, because of their "
racial" connotations.
However, the adjectival forms "
Semitic" and "
Hamitic," are more accepted, though the vague term 'Hamitic' dropped out of mainstream academic use in the
1960s. "
Semitic" remains an indispensable technical term for, in particular, the
Semitic languages, as a subset of the
Afro-Asiatic languages, which show the common linguistic heritage of
Hebrew language Hebrew,
Arabic language Arabic,
Aramaic language Aramaic,
Phoenician language Phoenician,
Akkadian language Akkadian, and
Ethiopic languages Ethiopic languages.
Semitic is also used in the fixed phrase "
anti-Semitic" to refer to racial, ethnic or cultural prejudice towards Jews, and sometimes more generally including Arabs.
Shem was also one of Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker's two sons in James Joyce's novel, "
Finnegans Wake."
See also
*
Sons of Noah
*
Wives aboard the Ark
*
Subarians
*
Finnegans Wake
{{Adam to David}}
Category:Torah people
ca:Sem
de:Sem (Bibel)
es:Sem
fr:Sem (Bible)
he:ש×? (דמות מקר×?ית)
nl:Sem (persoon)
no:Sem (bibelsk person)
pt:Sem
fi:Seem
sv:Sem
zh:é–ƒ
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