Ash'kenaz (Heb. Ashkenaz' ', t32'^3X, signif. un- known [comp. Ashpenaz] ; Sept. 'A<TYav«£, Gen. x, 3, v. r. 'Ao~xsv&Z in 1 Chrun. i, 6; 'Aa\avaZcuoi v. r. '.\\(ira^'-oi in Jer. Ii, 27; in both the latter passages Autli. Vers. " Ashchenaz"), the first named of the three sons of Corner, son of Japhet (B.C. cir. 2478), and of a tribe of his descendants. In Jeremiah it is placed with Ararat and Minni, provinces of Armenia; whence it is probable that Ashkenaz was a province of Armenia (q. v.), or, at least, that it lay not far from it, near the Caucasus, or toward the Black Sea (see Ro- senmuller, Bill. Geogr. I, i, 258). Among other less probable conjectures may bo named the following: Bochart (Phaleg, iii, 9) refers it to the lake Ascanius in Bithynia (Strabo, xii, 563 sq. ; Plin. v, 43; xxxi, 46, 2), and the city and region of Ascania in Phrygia Minor (Arrian, Alex, i, 30; Plin. v, 40; see Michaelis, Spicili //. i, 58 sq.) ; Calmet to the Askanlians at Tanais and tin- marsh Mseotis ( Plin. vi, 7, where, however, the best editions read " Contacaptas" for "Ascanticos"); Schulthess (Parad. p. 178) to the district Astaunitis (in the vicinity of Ararat) and the neighboring city of As- tanaca. IIa>se < Entdeck. i, 19) regards the word as a corruption for " Pont us Axenus," so as to designate the inhabitants of the province of Pontus ; Josephus (Ant. i. 6, 1 i merely says "Aschenaz ( A.(j\ava'£oiS) founded the Aschanazians CAaxava^ovg), whom the Greeks now call Rhegians ('Pjjyu/Ec) ;" but this latter name does let occur in classical geography (Joseph Mede conjectures the Rhatians, 'Pjjnwc, but these arc as far from probability as tlie supposition of the modern Jews that the Germans are meant, see Vater, Com. i, inn,. TheTargum of Jonathan understands Adiabene f""1"1-'1 province of Assyria; and the Arabic in Gen. tie- Sclavi, in Jr. the inhabitants near the Caspian Sea. Assuming thai tic Japhetic tribes migrated from their original seats westward and northward [see Japhet], thus peopling Asia Minor and Europe, we may perhaps recognise the tribe of Ashkenaz (as hav- ing migrated along the northern shore of Asia Minor) in Europe in the name Scand-ia, Scand-inaxia. Knobel
(Yijlkertafd, p. 35) regards the word as a compound (t:"U."N), the latter element being equivalent to the Gr. y'ivoc, Lat. gens, genus, Eng. kind, kin; the mean- ing, therefore, being the ^4s-raee. If this were so, it might seem that we here find the origin of the name Asia, which has subsequently been extended to the whole eastern part of the world. The slightness of the foundation, however, of all these identifications is evident. The opinion of Gcirres (Volkertofel, p. 92) that Ashkenaz is to be identified with the Cymry or Gaelic race seems even less probable than that of Knobel. See Ethnology.
Ashmead, William, a Presbyterian minister, born at Philadelphia in 1798, and graduated at the University of Pennsylvania in 1818. After studying under Dr. J. P. Wilson, he was licensed to preach in 1820. He labored in Lancaster till 1828, when he accepted a call to Charleston, S.C., and entered on his duties there in May, 1829. Returning to the north for his family, he was taken ill, and, after one or two relapses, died at Philadelphia, Dec. 2, 1829. He was an accomplished scholar and a devoted minister. Af- ter his death appeared Sermons, with Sketch of Life (Philad. 1830, 8vo).— Sprague, Annals, iv, 643.
Ashmun, Jehudi, agent of the American Coloni- zation Society, was born at Champlain, N. Y., in April, 1794. He was educated at Burlington, where he grad- uated in 1816. Some time after he was made a pro- fessor in the " Maine Charity School," where his stay was brief. He afterward removed to the District of Columbia, where he joined the Protestant Episcopal Church, and edited the "Theological Repertory." Be- ing appointed to take charge of a re-enforcement to the colony at Liberia, he embarked for Africa June 19, 1822, and arrived at Cape Vonser..do August 8. About three months after his arrival, while his whole force was 35 men and boys, he was attacked by 800 armed sav- ages, but by his energy and desperate valor the assail- ants were repulsed, and again, in a few days, when they returned with redoubled numbers, were utterly defeated. When ill-health compelled him in 1828 to take a voyage to America, he left behind him in Afri- ca a community of 1200 freemen. He died at New Haven August 25, 1828. He was a person of great enemy of character,and most devoted piety, and his services to the infant colony were invaluable. — Gurley, Life of Ash mini (Washington, 1835); Quarterly Chris- tian Spectator, vii, 330; North Amer. Rcvieio, xli, 565.
Ash'nah (Heb. Ashnah', FtrrX, fortified, other- wise bright; Sept. 'Aava), the name of two cities, both in the "plain" of the tribe of Judah.
1. One mentioned between Zornh and Zanoah (Josh, xv, 33), apparently in the region north of Eleu- theropolis and west of Jerusalem (see Keil, Comment. in loc), and near the boundary-line, almost within the territory afterward assigned to Dan (see Josh, xix, 41), and probably near Beth-Shemesh, possibly afr the site of the modern "large village Dew Alma" (Robinson, Researches, new ed. iii, 154). It is pi-oba- bly the Asan (^Aaav) or Bethasan (Qnfiaaa) placed by Eusebius and Jerome (Onomast. s. v.) at 15 or 16 Ro- man miles west of Jerusalem.