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japhetic

 - 2 dictionary results

Ja⋅phet⋅ic

  [juh-fet-ik]
Use japhetic in a Sentence
–adjective
1. of or pertaining to Japheth.
2. of or pertaining 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.
Origin:
1820–30; Japhet(h) + -ic, on the model of Hamitic, Semitic
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To japhetic
Ja·phet·ic   (jə-fĭt'ĭk)   
adj.  

  1. Of or relating to Japheth or his descendants.

  2. Of or relating to a discredited linguistic grouping that attempted to associate Basque, Etruscan, and sometimes Sumerian and Elamite with the Caucasian languages.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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