No, canaanite is considered a subset of the wider branch called semitic
Hebrew, aramaic, and phoenician are all considered canaanite languages, there are more but i think all are extinct[?]
All three use canaanite script, alphabet, whatever you call it, to varying degree, phoenician the closest
The philistines spoke canaanite
Phoenician is considered a very direct close relative to canaanite ... different time period yes, essentially same language
These are not partisan things, Nadine, they are classifications made by people who study languages ... on second thought, aramaic may not belong in there quite so close to the others, but the connection from canaanite to phoenician is very very strong ... 'canaan' means 'trader' in these languages, and both peoples were known for selling a purple dye all over the known world, each was the sole source of this stuff in their day ... there is other evidence, and there are those who believe phoenicians were direct descendants of the canaanites, in large part. |
