The Cushitic languages are a subgroup of the Afro-Asiatic languages, named after the Biblical figure Cush by analogy with Semitic. They are spoken in the Horn of Africa. The most prominent language is Oromo with about 35 million speakers, followed by Somali (in Somalia, Ethiopia, Djibouti, and Kenya) with about 20 million speakers, Sidamo (in Ethiopia) with about 2 million speakers, and Afar (in Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Djibouti) with about 1.5 million speakers. It is divided into the following subgroups, following Joseph Greenberg, as modified by Harold Fleming:
- Beja language (often placed outside Cushitic proper)
- Central Cushitic or Agaw languages
- East Cushitic languages (including Oromo, Somali, Sidamo, and Afar)
- South Cushitic or Rift languages (including Iraqw-Alagwa, Burunge, and arguably Dahalo)
Robert Hetzron has suggested that the South Cushitic languages are a subgroup of Lowland East Cushitic. Maarten Mous, in his 24 June 2005 oration at Leiden University, has suggested more specifically that South Cushitic be linked to the Southern Lowland East Cushitic branch, together with such languages as Oromo, the Omo-Tana languages (such as Somali), and Yaaku-Dullay.
Richard Hayward, on the other hand, breaks up East Cushitic into three well-supported families: Sidamic or Highlands, a diverse Lowlands family (with Afar, Somalic, and Oromic subgroups), and Dullay (he apparently leaves Yaaku unclassified), that he believes should be considered separately when attempting to work out the internal relationships of Cushitic. This makes for a tentative four to seven branches, depending on the status of Beja, Rift, and Yaaku.
Cushitic was traditionally seen as also including the Omotic languages, then called West Cushitic, but this view has been largely abandoned; the Omotic languages are now considered an isolated branch of Afro-Asiatic.