Full Idea
Semantics is the totality of considerations concerning concepts which express connections between expressions of a language and objects and states of affairs referred to by these expressions. Examples are denotation, satisfaction, definition and truth.
Gist of Idea
Semantics is the concepts of connections of language to reality, such as denotation, definition and truth
Source
Alfred Tarski (The Establishment of Scientific Semantics [1936], p.401)
Book Reference
Tarski,Alfred: 'Logic, Semantics, Meta-mathematics' [Hackett 1956], p.401
A Reaction
Interestingly, he notes that it 'is not commonly recognised' that truth is part of semantics. Nowadays truth seems to be the central concept in most semantics.