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Japhetic is a term that refers to the supposed descendants of Japheth, one of the three sons of Noah in the Bible. It corresponds to Semitic (descendants of Shem) and Hamitic (descendants of Ham). Variations of the term include Japhetite and Japhethitic.

A stylised T and O map, depicting Europe as the home of the descendants of Japheth (bottom left). Africa is ascribed to Ham and Asia to Shem

Traditionally, Japheth was understood to have been the progenitor of the peoples of Europe. Thus "Japhetic" came to be used as a synonym for Europeans. In Medieval Europe the world was understood to have been divided into three large-scale racial groupings. In addition to the Japhetic peoples of Europe, the Semitic peoples were equated with all Asians, and Hamitic peoples with Africans.

The link between Japheth and the Europeans is reflected in Genesis 10:5, which states that the sons of Japheth moved to the "isles of the Gentiles," commonly believed to be the Greek isles, while others claim them to be the British Isles.

In the Bible, Japheth is ascribed seven sons: Gomer, Magog, Tiras, Javan, Meshech, Tubal, and Madai.

The intended ethnic identity of these 'descendants of Japheth' is not known for certain. However, over history they have been identified by Biblical scholars with historical nations who were deemed to be descendants of Japheth and his sons—a practice dating back at least to the classical encounters of Jew with Hellene, for example in Josephus's Antiquities of the Jews, I.VI.122 (Whiston). Josephus wrote:

Japhet, the son of Noah, had seven sons: they inhabited so, that, beginning at the mountains Taurus and Amanus, they proceeded along Asia, as far as the river Tanais (Don), and along Europe to Cadiz; and settling themselves on the lands which they light upon, which none had inhabited before, they called the nations by their own names.

Josephus subsequently detailed the nations supposed to have descended from the seven sons of Japheth.

According to the Zend Avesta and sacred texts of the Zoroastrian faith, the Aryan race had their earliest homeland in a legendary place called "Airyanem Vaejah". This has traditionally been associated with Arran and the valley of the Araxes river, which rises next to Mount Ararat (eg., in the Bundahish 29:12). However, in the 20th century, certain agencies went to extraordinary lengths to assert the sole acceptance of the Soviet hypothesis that the Aryan peoples had entered the Iranian plateau from the Northeast, ie. from the opposite direction as Mount Ararat, despite a lack of any hard evidence for this conjecture. The result is that the Zoroastrian traditions of having originated in the Northwest of Iran and spreading out from there, have rarely been mentioned in post-Soviet scholarship.

Among the nations that various later writers (including Josephus and Nennius, as well as other traditional accounts) have attempted to assign to them, are as follows:

• Gomer: Scythians, Armenians, Welsh, Picts, Irish, Germans (Teutons), Turks;
• Magog: Scythians, Slavs, Magyars (Hungarians), Irish;
• Madai: Mitanni, Mannai, Medes (and hence Kurds), more generally Persians, or even more generally Indo-Aryans;
• Javan: Ionians (Greeks)
• Tubal: Tabali, Georgians, Italics, Illyrians, Iberians, Basques;
• Meshech: Phrygians, Meskheti, Moschoi;
• Tiras: Thracians, Etruscans, Goths, Jutes, Teutons (Germans).

The "Book of Jasher", a midrash first published in 1625, provides some new names for Japheth's grandchildren not seen in the Bible or any other source. More complete genealogies reconstructed on this basis include:

• Gomer "complete" (sons were Ashkenaz, Riphath and Togarmah^[1]) - also Gamir, Gommer, Gomeri, Gomeria, Gomery, Goth, Guth, Gutar, Götar, Gadelas, Galic, Gallic, Galicia, Galica, Galatia, Gael, Getae, Galatae, Galatoi, Gaul, Galls, Goar, Celt, Celtae, Celticae, Kelt, Keltoi, Gimmer, Gimmerai, Gimirra, Gimirrai, Gimirraya, Kimmer, Kimmeroi, Kimirraa, Kumri, Umbri, Cimmer, Cimmeria, Cimbri, Cimbris, Crimea, Chomari, Cymric, Cymry, Cymru, Cymbry, Cumber (Caledonians, Picts, Milesians, Umbrians, Helvetians, Celts, Galatians, Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Goths, Vandals, Scandinavians, Jutes, Teutons, Franks, Burgundians, Alemanni, Armenians, Germans, Belgians, Dutch, Luxembourgers, Liechtensteiners, Austrians, Swiss, Angles, Saxons, Britons, English, Cornish, Irish, Welsh, Scottish, and other related groups);

• Magog "land of God" (sons were Elichanaf and Lubal^[2]) - also Gog, Gogh, Magug, Magogae, Mugogh, Mat Gugi, Gugu, Gyges, Bedwig, Moghef, Magogian, Massagetae, Dacae, Sacae, Scyth, Scythi, Scythia, Scythae, Sythia, Scythes, Skuthai, Skythai, Scythia, Skythia, Scynthia, Scynthius, Sclaveni, Samartian, Scoloti, Skodiai, Scotti, Skoloti, Skoth-ai, Skoth, Skuthes, Skuth-a, Askuza, Askuasa, Alani, Alans, Alanic, Ulan, Uhlan also Rasapu, Rashu, Rukhs, Rukhs-As, Rhos, Ros, Rosh, Rox, Roxolani, Rhoxolani, Ruskolan, Rosichi, Rhossi, Rusichi, Rus, Ruska, Rossiya, Russian (Russians, Belarusians, Ukrainians); also Mas-ar, Mas-gar, Masgar, Mazar, Madj, Madjar, Makr-on, Makar, Makaroi, Merkar, Magor, Magar, Magyar, Mohgur (Hungarians - also Hungar, Hunugur, Hurri, Gurri, Onogur, Ugor, Ungar, Uhor, Venger); Finns, Lapps, Estonians, Siberians, Yugoslavians, Croatians, Bosnians, Montenegrins, Serbians, Slovenians, Slovakians, Bulgarians, Poles, Czechs, and other related groups);

• Javan "miry" (sons were Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim and Dodanim^[3]) - also Jevanim, Iewanim, Iawan, Iawon, Iamanu, Iones, Ionians, Ellas, Ellines, El-li-ness, Hellas, Hellenes, Yavan, Yavanas, Yawan, Yuban, Yauna, Uinivu, Xuthus (Greeks, Fomorians, Spartans, Dorians, Britons, Aeolians, Achaeans, Myceneans, Ancient Macedonians, Carthaginians, Cypriots, Cretans, Basques, Latins, Venetians, Sicanians, Romans, Sicilians, Italians, Spaniards, Portuguese, and other related groups);

• Tubal "brought" (sons were Ariphi, Kesed and Taari^[4]) - also Tabal, Tabali, Tubalu, T'bilisi, Tibarenoi, Tibareni, Tibar, Tibor, Sabir, Sapir, Sabarda, Subar, Subartu, Thobal, Thobel, Tobol, Tobolsk (Russians, Georgians, Dagestanis, Chechens,Albanians, and other related groups);

• Meshech "drawing out" (sons were Dedon, Zaron and Shebashni^[5]) - Me'shech, Mes'ek, Meshekh, Meskhi, Mushch, Muschki, Mushki, Mishi, Muski, Mushku, Musku, Muskeva, Muska, Muskaa, Muskai, Maskali, Machar, Maskouci, Mazakha, Mazaca, Massagatae, Mtskhetos, Modar-es, Moskhi, Moshkhi, Mosher, Moshch, Moschis, Mosoch, Moschi, Moschian, Mo'skhoi, Moschoi, Mosochenu, Mosochean, Mossynes, Mosynoeci, Moskva, Moscovy, Moscow (Russians, Muscovites, Latvians, Lithuanians, Romanians, and other related groups);

• Tiras "desire" (sons were Benib, Gera, Lupirion and Gilak^[6]) - also Tiracian, Thracian, Thirasian, Thuras, Troas, Tros, Troia, Troi, Troy, Trajan, Trojan, Taunrus, Tyrsen, Tyrrhena, Rasenna, Tursha, Tusci, Tuscany, Etruscan, Eturscan (Thracians, Pelasgians, Phrygians, Leleges and Etruscans.

Again, the original source for most of these names not in the Bible is the mediaeval rabbinical Book of Jasher.

• Gomer "complete" (sons were Ashkenaz, Riphath and Togarmah) - Turks, Bulgars, Tartars, Cossacks, Circassians, Bashkirs, Chuvashes, Khazars, Azerbaijanis, Kazakhs, Turkmen, Uzbeks, Tajiks, Kyrgyz, Phrygians, Bithynians, Carpathians, and Paphlagonians.

• Magog "land of God" (sons were Elichanaf and Lubal) - Turks, Hungarians, Huns, Voguls, Finns, Lapps, Estonians, Mordvins, Karelians, Komi-Zyrians, Udmurts, Izhorians, Livonians, and Siberians.

• Madai "middle land" (sons were Achon, Zeelo, Chazoni and Lot) - Medes, Persians, Caspians, Achaemenians, Manneans, Iranians, Afghans, Hazaras.

• Javan "miry" (sons were Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim and Dodanim) - Anatolians, Cilicians, Greeks, Ionians, Tartessians, Cypriots, Macedonians, and the aboriginal inhabitants of the British Isles such as the Irish Travellers.

• Tubal "brought" (sons were Ariphi, Kesed and Taari) - Russians, Georgians, Dagestanis, Avars, Basques, Colchians, Chechens, and Albanians.

• Meshech "drawing out" (sons were Dedon, Zaron and Shebashni) - Russians, Muscovites, Sarmatians, Alans, Ossetians, Georgians, and Cappadocians.

• Tiras "desire" (sons were Benib, Gera, Lupirion and Gilak) - Thracians, Pelasgians, and Leleges.

The term "Caucasian" as a racial label for Europeans derives in part from the assumption that the tribe of Japheth developed its distinctive racial characteristics in the Caucasus area, having migrated there from Mount Ararat before populating Europe. In the same vein, Georgian nationalist histories associated Japheth's sons with certain ancient tribes of the Caucasus area, called Tubals (Tabals, Tibarenoi in Greek) and Meshechs (Meshekhs/Mosokhs, Moschoi in Greek), who they claimed represented ancient pre-Indo-European and non-Semitic, possibly "Proto-Iberian", tribes of Asia Minor of the 3rd-1st millennias BC. This theory influenced the use of the term Japhetic in the linguistic theories of Nikolai Marr (see below).

During the eighteenth and nineteenth century the Biblical statement that "God shall enlarge Japheth" (Genesis 9:27) was used by some Christians as a justification for the "enlargement" of European territories through Imperialism, which was interpreted as part of God's plan for the world. The subjugation of Africans was likewise justified by the curse of Ham.

The term Japhetic was also applied by William Jones, Rasmus C. Rask and other pre-Darwinian linguists to what later became known as the Indo-European language group, on the assumption that the principal languages of Europe would have originated with the tribe of Japheth.

In a conflicting sense, it was also used by the Soviet linguist Nikolai Marr in his Japhetic theory, which was intended to demonstrate that the languages of the Caucasus formed part of a once-widespread pre-Indo-European language group.

• Japheth
• Whites
• Japhetic theory
• Confusion of tongues
• Proto-Indo-Europeans
• Aryan
• Gog and Magog
• Hephthalites
• Indo-Scythians
• Tower of Babel
• Garden of Eden

• Easton Bible dictionary about Japheth
• Smith's Bible Dictionary about Japheth
• International Standard Bible Encyclopedia: Japheth
• Japheth in the Jewish Encyclopedia