The Semites were various groups who spoke versions of a non-Indo-European Semitic language system. The Akkadians, Amorites, Arameans, Canaanites (including the Phoenicians), Assyrians, Babylonians, ancient Israelites or Hebrews, and Arabs were all Semites, as are present-day Jews and Arabs, whose Semitic mother tongues are Hebrew and Arabic, respectively. Tradition has it that Semites descended from Shem (Sem), Noah’s first son in the Genesis story.