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.

According to this table the Egyptians were descended from Ham, the son of Noah, and were consequently of the same original stock with the Japhetic and Semitic nations.

From Ten Great Religions An Essay in Comparative Theology by Clarke, James Freeman

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

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

Language; difference between the Japhetic and Semitic tongues, ii.

From Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah & Meccah — Volume 2 by Burton, Richard Francis, Sir