Laura Naysmith age 16, of Nashville, Tenn., for her question:

WHAT IS A SEMITE?

'A Semite is a person who is a member of a group that speaks one of the Semitic languages. The ancient Hebrews, Assyrians, Phoenicians and Carthaginians were Semites. The Arabs and some Ethiopians are present day Semitic speaking peoples.

Most Semitic speaking peoples are of the Mediterranean race. Jews were once a subtype of this race but they have mixed with other peoples until the name Jew has lost all racial meaning. Hebrew, which is the traditional language of the Jews, is a Semitic language, and Jews are sometimes called Semites. The term anti Semitism, or hatred of the Jews, comes from this name.

The so called "Semitic nose" is a trait inherited from people who lived in Armenia and the Iranian Plateau. Typical present day Semites include such peoples as the Bedouins of North Arabia and the Himyartites of South Arabia.

Semitic peoples gave the world the idea of one God. They started three great religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam, the religion of the Muslims.

The world is also indebted to a Semitic people, the Phoenicians, for developing and simplifying the alphabet.

The greatest literary achievements of the, Semites are the Bible; the Talmud or code of Jewish law; and the Koran, the sacred book of the Muslims.