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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
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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Word History and Origins

Origin of Japhetic1

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

Origin of Japhetic1

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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