Japheth is traditionally seen as the ancestor of Europeans, as well as some more eastern nations; thus Japhetic has been used as a synonym for Caucasians. Caucasian itself derives in part from the assumption that the tribe of Japheth developed its distinctive philogenic characteristics in the Caucasus, where Mount Ararat is located. The term Japhetic was also applied by the early linguists (brothers Grimm, William Jones, Rasmus C. Rask and others) to what later became known as the Indo-European language group, on the assumption that, if descended from Japheth, the principal languages of Europe would have a common origin, which apart from Finno-Ugric, Kartvelian, Pontic, Nakh, Dagestan, and Basque, appears to be the case.
Thanks for this Chris. Fascinating stuff.
ReplyDeleteSomebody has got to put the "mental" in fundamentalist.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Padre, for the link! As a Creationist and a believer that Genesis happened as we have it written, this is an interesting bit of information to add to the ole' filing bin in my brain!!!
ReplyDeleteRob+
This sort of stuff- history of lng's- is fascinating. I'd be curious what Debbie B. thinks, as a linguist.
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