Japhetic

American  

[juh-fet-ik] / dʒəˈfɛt ɪk /

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.

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Japhetic British  

/ dʒeɪˈfɛtɪk /

adjective

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

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Etymology

Origin of Japhetic

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

Example Sentences

All the branches of the Japhetic family combined to form what was with justice and propriety called Christendom.

From Irish Race in the Past and the Present by Thebaud, Augustus J.

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 The History of Antiquity, Vol. I (of VI) by Duncker, Max

They not improbably represent in more or less altered forms the most primitive stock of language from which both the Semitic and Japhetic groups have branched.

From The Origin of the World According to Revelation and Science by Dawson, John William

It was usual formerly to speak of Japhetic, Hamitic and Semitic languages.

From Lectures on The Science of Language by Müller, Max

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 Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 2 of 4: E-M) by Various