Japhetic languages

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Not to be confused with Japhetic theory.

Japhetic languages is a 19th-century term for the Indo-European languages, taken from the idea that Europeans are descendants of Japheth, one of the sons of Noah.[1] It parallels the term Semitic, from Noah's son Shem, which is still current for the Semitic languages, and the term Hamitic, from Noah's son Ham, which is also obsolete apart from occasional dated use of term "Hamito-Semitic" for the Afro-Asiatic languages.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Japhetic". Oxford English Dictionary (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press. September 2005. 


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