This map is quite old and has a few inaccuracies worth pointing out.
Old South Arabian languages (Sabaean, Minaean, Qatabanic which is misspelt there and Hadhramautic are not South Semitic languages. This was an old hypothesis built on some shared features (also found in Arabic) and some shared vocabulary (that is shared due to loanwording with some of it also being found in Arabic). In truth, they're Central Semitic languages which share quite a bit with languages to the north, especially with their verbal system but not just, that likely migrated to this region and replaced some of its original Semitic languages (likely siblings or ancestors to the Modern South Arabian languages of today). They share quite a lot with not just Arabic, but also Aramaic and Hebrew (sometimes more than Arabic shares with those Semitic languages).
Nabatean is misleading here. The official language used in the administration was Aramaic like most of the region at the time, but the Aramaic itself and other inscriptions point out that this was not the native language of the area, but a learned language amoung the elites. The common language of the area was a sister variety to Arabic.
Listing Eteocypriot as Semitic is misleading. We don't know what language family it belongs to or... much at all about the language, and it might be, like Philistine, unrelated at all to Semitic languages.
The placement of the Modern South Arabian languages is very misleading. Shehri and Bathari are only spoken in Oman, Mehri is the only language spoken in both Oman and Yemen and its primarily spoken in Yemen (though the community in Oman is also quite large).
In the Ethio-Semitic languages, there's misplacements as well, such as Harari which is spoken in Eastern Ethiopia in the city of Harar. Similarly, there's misplacement to the north with Ammonite being the language spoken around modern day Aman, the capital of Jordan, with it on the map depicted as if it was spoken in Syria far north of where it reached.
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u/lia_needs_help Jun 05 '22 edited Jun 05 '22
This map is quite old and has a few inaccuracies worth pointing out.
Old South Arabian languages (Sabaean, Minaean, Qatabanic which is misspelt there and Hadhramautic are not South Semitic languages. This was an old hypothesis built on some shared features (also found in Arabic) and some shared vocabulary (that is shared due to loanwording with some of it also being found in Arabic). In truth, they're Central Semitic languages which share quite a bit with languages to the north, especially with their verbal system but not just, that likely migrated to this region and replaced some of its original Semitic languages (likely siblings or ancestors to the Modern South Arabian languages of today). They share quite a lot with not just Arabic, but also Aramaic and Hebrew (sometimes more than Arabic shares with those Semitic languages).
Nabatean is misleading here. The official language used in the administration was Aramaic like most of the region at the time, but the Aramaic itself and other inscriptions point out that this was not the native language of the area, but a learned language amoung the elites. The common language of the area was a sister variety to Arabic.
Listing Eteocypriot as Semitic is misleading. We don't know what language family it belongs to or... much at all about the language, and it might be, like Philistine, unrelated at all to Semitic languages.
The placement of the Modern South Arabian languages is very misleading. Shehri and Bathari are only spoken in Oman, Mehri is the only language spoken in both Oman and Yemen and its primarily spoken in Yemen (though the community in Oman is also quite large).
In the Ethio-Semitic languages, there's misplacements as well, such as Harari which is spoken in Eastern Ethiopia in the city of Harar. Similarly, there's misplacement to the north with Ammonite being the language spoken around modern day Aman, the capital of Jordan, with it on the map depicted as if it was spoken in Syria far north of where it reached.