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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.


Japhetic British  
/ 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

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.

See Examples For:

It is in the Zend-Avesta, primal Japhetic utterance.

From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 05, No. 30, April, 1860 by Various

The proof of negation is not the strongest proof, but it is something to assert that they are neither of Japhetic or Hamitic origin.

From Incentives to the Study of the Ancient Period of American History An address, delivered before the New York Historical Society, at its forty-second anniversary, 17th November 1846 by Henry Rowe Schoolcraft

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 Jules Verne

Yet at this time, even in the presence of the United States, in the presence of all other maritime powers, England stands at the head of the Japhetic movement.

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

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

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