Editing Japheth (section)

===Europeans===
[[File:Shem, Ham and Japheth.jpg|thumb|right|''Shem, Ham, and Japheth'', painting by [[James Tissot]] (between 1896 and 1902). [[Jewish Museum (Manhattan)|Jewish Museum]] ([[Manhattan]], [[New York City|New York]]). Japheth is on the left with stereotypically European features: fair skin, [[red hair]] and [[blue eyes]].]]
[[File:T and O map Guntherus Ziner 1472.jpg|thumb|230px|right|This [[T and O map]], from the first [[Printing press|printed]] version of [[Isidore of Seville|Isidore]]'s ''[[Etymologiae]]'' ([[Augsburg]] 1472), identifies the three known continents ([[Asia]], [[Europe]], and [[Africa]]) as respectively populated by descendants of ''Sem'' ([[Shem]]), ''Iafeth'' (Japheth), and ''Cham'' ([[Ham (son of Noah)|Ham]]).]]

In the 7th century AD, Hispano–Roman [[archbishop]] and scholar [[Isidore of Seville]] wrote his noted encyclopedic-historical treatise titled ''[[Etymologiae]]'', in which he traces the origins of most of the [[Ethnic groups in Europe|European peoples]] back to Japheth.<ref name="Leyser">{{cite book |last1=Leyser |first1=Karl |author-link1=Karl Leyser |title=Communications and Power in Medieval Europe: The Carolingian and Ottonian Centuries |date=1994 |publisher=[[A & C Black]] |isbn=9781852850135 |page=5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=efy4NAcXOSkC&q=Isidore+descent+from+Noah+through+Japhet+europe&pg=PA5 |access-date=10 August 2019 |language=en |quote=Already in Isidore of Seville they were the founders of towns and regions in Europe, Asia and Africa.14 The whole human race must be descended from them and they, Shem, Ham and Japheth therefore divided the world between them. Europe was Japheth's share, and his numerous offspring and their descendants in turn were the ancestors of all the greater European peoples: Franks, Latins, Alemans and Britains, to name but some.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author1=Richard Cole |editor1-last=Heß |editor1-first=Cordelia |editor2-last=Adams |editor2-first=Jonathan |title=Fear and Loathing in the North: Jews and Muslims in Medieval Scandinavia and the Baltic Region |date=2015 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG |isbn=9783110346473 |page=258 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pBGsCAAAQBAJ&q=Isidore%27s+assertion+of+descent+from+Noah+through+Japhet+europe&pg=PA258 |language=en |chapter=Proto-Racial Thinking and its Application to Jews in Old Norse Literature}}</ref> Scholars in almost every European nation continued to repeat and develop Isidore of Seville's assertion of descent from Noah through Japheth into the 19th century.{{sfn|Kidd|2004|pages=28-31}}

[[William Shakespeare]]'s play ''[[Henry IV, Part II]]'' contains a wry comment about people who claim to be related to royal families. [[Prince Hal]] notes of such people,

{{blockquote|...they will be kin to us, or they will fetch it from Japhet. (II.ii 117-18)}}

The [[Georgia (country)|Georgian]] historian and linguist [[Ivane Javakhishvili]] associated Japheth's sons with certain ancient tribes, called [[Tubal]]s ([[Tabal (state)|Tabal]]s, in Greek: ''Tibarenoi'') and [[Meshech]]s (Meshekhs/Mosokhs, in Greek: ''Moschoi''), who claimed to represent non-Indo-European and non-Semitic, possibly "Proto-Iberian" tribes that inhabitated [[Anatolia]] during the [[3rd millennium BC|3rd]]-[[1st millennium BC|1st millennia BC]].<ref name="Ivane Javakhishvili 1950, pp. 130"/>

In the [[Culture of Poland|Polish tradition]] of [[Sarmatism]], the [[Sarmatians]], an [[Iranian peoples|Iranic people]], were said to be descended from Japheth, son of Noah, enabling the [[Szlachta|Polish nobility]] to believe that their ancestry could be traced directly to Noah.{{sfn|Kidd|2004|pages=28-31}} In [[Scotland]], histories tracing the [[Scottish people]] to Japheth were published as late as [[George Chalmers (antiquarian)|George Chalmers]]'s well-received ''Caledonia'', published in 3 volumes from 1807 to 1824.{{sfn|Kidd|2004|page=52}}