a. and sb. [f. Japhetī or Japheth + -IAN.] a. adj. = next. b. sb. A descendant of Japheth, one of the sons of Noah.
1850. J. Jordan, in Chr. Sabbath, ii. 52. They were derived from a different family of Japhetians than the Greeks. Ibid., 53. The Hindus are not of Shemitic but of Japhetian origin.
1887. I. Taylor, in Nature, 20 Oct., 597/2. The pre-scientific Japhetian theory and the Caucasian theory … have long been abandoned.
