The Assyrian which was spoken in Assyria and Babylonia is extinct; so, too, are the Ethiopic of Abyssinia, and the Hebrew language itself.

What we term Hebrew was originally "the language of Canaan," spoken by the Semitic Canaanites long before the Israelitish conquest of the country, and found as late as the Roman age on the monuments of Phoenicia and Carthage.

The Minaean and the Sabaean dialects of southern Arabia still survive in modern forms; Arabic, which has now overflowed the rest of the Semitic world, was the language of central Arabia alone.
In northern Arabia, as well as in Mesopotamia and Syria, Aramaic dialects were used, the miserable relics of which are preserved to-day among a few villagers of the Lebanon and Lake Urumiyeh.

These Aramaic dialects, it is now believed, arose from a mixture of Arabic with "the language of Canaan." On the physical side, the Semitic race is not so homogeneous as it is on the linguistic side.

But this is due to intermarriage with other races, and where it is purest it displays the same general characteristics.
Thick and fleshy lips, arched nose, black hair and eyes, and white complexion, distinguish the pure-blooded Semite.