Afroasiatic languages

Afroasiatic (Afro-Asiatic), also called Afrasian or Hamito-Semitic or Semito-Hamitic,Robert Hetzron, "Afroasiatic Languages" in Bernard Comrie, The World's Major Languages, 2009, , p. 545 is a large language family. They are mainly spoken in Western Asia, North Africa, the Horn of Africa and parts of the Sahel. There are around 300 Afroasiatic languages that are still spoken. About 495 million people speak an Afroasiatic language as their first language. There are six branches of the language family: Berber, Chadic, Cushitic, Egyptian, Omotic and Semitic. The most spoken language is Arabic, a Semitic language. It has around 313 million native speakers.

The name "Semito-Hamitic" comes from Shem and Ham, two sons of Noah in Genesis.   

References