Hebrew is an oriental language belonging to the Semitic family. The term Semitic was first used to describe all the closely connected languages of the Fertile Crescent and was then adopted by scholars to designate the various groups of people who spoke those languages. The word Semitic comes from the name Shem, who according to Genesis 10 was a son of Noah and ancestor of the Assyrians, Arameans, Hebrews and others, most of whom spoke similar languages. The term Semitic has become a workable designation for these related languages, but it does not mean that all those who spoke these languages were descendants of Semitic.