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| | International Standard Bible Encyclopedia: Bible (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-24) |
 | | This name, in Gen. 9:27, seems to be explained by the phrase "may God make wide (yapht, the American Standard Revised Version "enlarge") for Japheth," where yapht and Japheth are represented by the same consonants, but with different vowel-points. |
 | | The root of yapht is pathach, "to make wide." This etymology, however, is not universally accepted, as the word-play is so obvious, and the association of Japheth with Shem ("dark") and Ham ("fl") suggests a name on similar lines--either gentilic, or descriptive of race. |
 | | The original of the Hebrew record probably belongs to a date too early to admit borrowing from the Greek, and if the name had been borrowed by the Greeks from the Hebrews, a nearer form might be expected. |
| www.sbl.org /biblestudies/biblejourney/dictionary/isbe/j/japheth.htm (391 words) |
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