Ja·pheth /ˈʤefəθ/
 Japheth
      n : (Old Testament) son of Noah
 Japheth
    wide spreading: "God shall enlarge Japheth" (Heb. Yaphat Elohim
    le-Yephet, Gen. 9:27. Some, however, derive the name from
    _yaphah_, "to be beautiful;" hence white), one of the sons of
    Noah, mentioned last in order (Gen. 5:32; 6:10; 7:13), perhaps
    first by birth (10:21; comp. 9:24). He and his wife were two of
    the eight saved in the ark (1 Pet. 3:20). He was the progenitor
    of many tribes inhabiting the east of Europe and the north of
    Asia (Gen. 10:2-5). An act of filial piety (9:20-27) was the
    occasion of Noah's prophecy of the extension of his posterity.
      After the Flood the earth was re-peopled by the descendants of
    Noah, "the sons of Japheth" (Gen. 10:2), "the sons of Ham" (6),
    and "the sons of Shem" (22). It is important to notice that
    modern ethnological science, reasoning from a careful analysis
    of facts, has arrived at the conclusion that there is a
    three-fold division of the human family, corresponding in a
    remarkable way with the great ethnological chapter of the book
    of Genesis (10). The three great races thus distinguished are
    called the Semitic, Aryan, and Turanian (Allophylian). "Setting
    aside the cases where the ethnic names employed are of doubtful
    application, it cannot reasonably be questioned that the author
    [of Gen. 10] has in his account of the sons of Japheth classed
    together the Cymry or Celts (Gomer), the Medes (Madai), and the
    Ionians or Greeks (Javan), thereby anticipating what has become
    known in modern times as the 'Indo-European Theory,' or the
    essential unity of the Aryan (Asiatic) race with the principal
    races of Europe, indicated by the Celts and the Ionians. Nor can
    it be doubted that he has thrown together under the one head of
    'children of Shem' the Assyrians (Asshur), the Syrians (Aram),
    the Hebrews (Eber), and the Joktanian Arabs (Joktan), four of
    the principal races which modern ethnology recognizes under the
    heading of 'Semitic.' Again, under the heading of 'sons of Ham,'
    the author has arranged 'Cush', i.e., the Ethiopians; 'Mizraim,'
    the people of Egypt; 'Sheba and Dedan,' or certain of the
    Southern Arabs; and 'Nimrod,' or the ancient people of Babylon,
    four races between which the latest linguistic researches have
    established a close affinity" (Rawlinson's Hist. Illustrations).