Indo-Semitic

English

Etymology

Indo- +‎ Semitic

Adjective

Indo-Semitic (not comparable)

1. Of or relating to both the Indo-European and the Semitic languages, or to a proposed ancestor of both.
   • 1969, Raimo Anttila, Proto-Indo-European Schwebeablaut, University of California Press, page 18:

     Such stretched out forms were to become important for the Indo-Semitic hypothesis, and in 1911 Möller writes […]

   • 1997, Ayele Bekerie, Ethiopic, an African Writing System: Its History and Principles, The Red Sea Press, →ISBN, page 116:

     Western scholars consistent intent to exclude, without any evidence, the Ethiopic language as one of the possible original languages of the book [the Book of Enoch], perhaps, suggests that the Ethiopic language is not part of the Indo-Semitic languages.

2. Of or relating to India and Semitic peoples; for example, of or relating to Semitic (or supposedly Semitic) peoples of India.
   • 1870, James Bonwick, Daily Life and Origin of the Tasmanians, S. Low, Son, & Marston, page 244:

     He proceeds, after mentioning that the Indo-Semitic, or Tuda, have massive heads, large eyes, and receding foreheads: […]