What is a Semite?

The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition.  2001. 
  
Semite 
  
  
(sm´t, s´mt) (KEY) , originally one of a people believed to be descended from
Shem, son of Noah. Later the term came to include the following peoples: Arabs;
the Akkadians of ancient Babylonia; the Assyrians; the Canaanites (including
Amorites, Moabites, Edomites, Ammonites, and Phoenicians); the various Aramaean
tribes (including Hebrews); and a considerable portion of the population of
Ethiopia. These peoples are grouped under the term Semite, chiefly because
their languages were found to be related, deriving presumably from a common
tongue, Semitic. The Semites were largely nomadic pastoralists, although some
settled in villages. At least as early as 2500 B.C., the Semites had begun to
leave the Arabian peninsula in successive waves of migration that took them to
Mesopotamia, the Mediterranean coast, and the Nile delta. They were organized
into patrilineal tribes, occupying defined territories and ruled by hereditary
leaders, or sheiks. In Mesopotamia, Semitic people from the earliest times were
in contact with Sumerian civilization and with the rise of Sargon of Agade
(Akkad) and Hammurabi of Babylon were able to dominate it completely (see
Sumer). In Phoenicia the Semitic population developed a widespread maritime
trade and became the first great seafaring people. That group of Hebrews that
had been diverted through Sinai into the Nile delta settled at last with other
Semitic inhabitants in Palestine. These southern or Judean Hebrews became the
leaders of a new nation and religion (see Jews and Judaism).    1 
See W. R. Smith, History of the Semites (1956, repr. 1972).    2