Japhetic
Americanadjective
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of or relating to Japheth.
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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.
adjective
Etymology
Origin of Japhetic
First recorded in 1820–30; Japhet(h) + -ic, on the model of Hamitic, Semitic
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The language he called Median, and classified it in “the Scythian, rather than in the Japhetic family.”
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 7, Slice 8 "Cube" to "Daguerre, Louis" by Various
But I will go further in my deductions, and I will affirm that this specimen of the human family is of the Japhetic race, which has since spread from the Indies to the Atlantic.
From A Journey to the Interior of the Earth by Verne, Jules
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
It is in the Zend-Avesta, primal Japhetic utterance.
From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 05, No. 30, April, 1860 by Various
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
