Japhetic

[ juh-fet-ik ]

adjective

1. of or relating to Japheth.
2. of or relating to a hypothesized group of languages of the Caucasus, Mesopotamia, Asia Minor, and southern Europe, including the Caucasian languages, Sumerian, Basque, and Etruscan, formerly thought by some to represent a stage in language development that preceded the development of Indo-European and Semitic.

Japhetic

/ dʒeɪˈfɛtɪk /

adjective

1. denoting a discredited grouping of languages that postulated a relationship between Basque, Etruscan, and Georgian among others

Word History and Origins

Origin of Japhetic¹

First recorded in 1820–30; Japhet(h) + -ic, on the model of Hamitic, Semitic

Word History and Origins

Origin of Japhetic¹

C19: from New Latin Japheti descendants of Japheth + -ic

Example Sentences

The language he called Median, and classified it in “the Scythian, rather than in the Japhetic family.”

From Project Gutenberg

The names Japhet, Gomer, and Thiras are borrowed from the Hebrew scriptures, from the genealogy of the Japhetic nations in Genesis; but the order of succession is altered.

From Project Gutenberg

Indo-European, in′dō-ū-rō-pē′an, adj. a term applied to the family of languages variously called Aryan, Japhetic, Sanscritic, Indo-Germanic, generally classified into seven great branches—viz.

From Project Gutenberg

Japhetic, ja-fet′ik, adj. a term formerly applied in ethnology to European peoples, the supposed descendants of Japhet, as opposed to Hamitic and Semitic.

From Project Gutenberg

For there is no language, ancient or modern, rude or polished, semitic, chamitic, or japhetic, whose metaphorical is not much more copious than its proper vocabulary.

From Project Gutenberg