Semitic languages
The similarity of the Hebrew, Arabic and Aramaic languages was accepted by Jewish and Islamic scholars since medieval times. The languages were familiar to Western European scholars due to historical contact with neighbouring Near Eastern countries and through Biblical studies, and a comparative analysis of Hebrew, Arabic, and Aramaic was published in Latin in 1538 by Guillaume Postel. Almost two centuries later, Hiob Ludolf described the similarities between these three languages and the Ethiopian Semitic languages. However, neither scholar named this grouping as "Semitic".
Iturea
Smith's Bible Dictionary attempted to equate the modern Arabic region name "Jedur" (جدور) with both Jetur and Iturea however the Arabic "j" (ج) corresponds to Hebrew "g" (ג) and not "y" (י), and Arabic "d" (د) does not correspond to Hebrew "ṭ" (ט) or Greek "t" (τ) and the mainstream view is that Jedur is instead the Biblical Gedor (גדור).