Shem (D'lj) signifies "name,good name, fame;" Ham (DH), "hot, warm;" Japheth (rS|^), "spread," from iins. The names are probably prophetical of the fu- ture renown of the Shemites, of the hot land of the Hamites, and the spread of the Japhethites. The prophecy of Noah (Gen. ix, 25, 26, 27) indicates the ap- propriateness of Japheth's name to his future ; and a prophetical sense of the names of his brethren may therefore be conjectured. But there is no distinct al- lusion to any such sense in their cases. It might be thought that the appropriateness of Shem's name as illustrious could be traced in the prediction that his should be the believing stocli, but there is no indica- tion whatever of any moral significance in the name of Ham.
1. Shem. — There is no trace of an}' single nation or country named after Shem, probably because the Shemites, by an instinct afterwards remarkable in their descendants, early separated into distinct tribes, though not migrating very far. Tliis was the case with the Israelites ; and with the Arabs the same pro- cess is still in constant operation. See She.m.
2. Ham. — The name of Ham has been connected with an appellation of Egj'pt in Hebrew, only occur- ring in three passages in the poetical books — ' ' the land of Ham" (Psa. Ixxviii, 51; cv, 23; cvi, 22), and with the most usual Egyptian name of the country, Keji, " the black (land)." The former term we can- not doubt contained the patriarch's name. Is tlie lat- ter identical with it ? The significations of Ham and Kem are sufficiently near. Ham maj' reasonabh' be derived from d'?n, "he or it was warm," and com- pared with QW, "he or it was black," and the Arabic cham, of the same signification as tlie last, and chnma, "black fetid mud" (^Kcimus), or " blacli mud" {Sihkh MS.). Kem cannot be taken for an Egyptian tran- scription of Ham, but it may be a word of cognate origin (comp. kar, "a circle," bw, ^"^H, "he or it turned, turned round;" kakr, "a furnace," H"irt, "it burned;" kna, " to bend," nSH, "he or it bowed down, inclined"). There can, therefore, be no reason- able doubt that the Egyptian name of the country is identical with the Hebrew name of tlie patriarch. Are they of sepai-ate origin? AVe must citiier suppose this, or that " the land of Ham" became changed to "Ham-land," or "black land." The genius of the Egyptian language would account for sucli a change, which seems not improbable. That Ham should have given his name to a country miglit lie accounted for by the supposition that, except the (Janaaiiites, tlie Ham- ites penetrated into Africa, and at first established themselves in Egypt. See Ham.
3. Japhoth. — It is impossible not to see the name of Japheth in the Greek Japetus the Titan, son of Ura- nus and Ge, and the supposed ancestor of the human race ; for, as we shall see, the Greeks, or at least those
of the Hellenic stock, are classed among the Japheth* ites in the list of Genesis. See Japheth.
IV. The Descendants of Jajiheth. — The following ia the table of the Japhethites : Japheth. 1. Gomer.
2. Magog.
3. JIadai.
4. Javan.
5. Tubal.
6. iMeshech.
7. Tiras.
a. Ashkenaz.
b. Kiphath.
e. Togarmah.
a. Elisliah.
b. 'rarshish. c Kittiiii. d. Dodanim.
1. Gomer. — This name occurs in but one later placa in connection with geography, as that of a nation o( tribe allied with Magog, and it is there mentioned im- mediately before Togarmah, distinguished as northern (Ezek. xxxviii, G). It has therefore been supposed to point to a remote nortliern nation, Scythic, or perhaps European. Two great gentile names have been com- pared, the Cimmerians of the Tauric Chersonese, who invaded the west of Asia Minor early in the 7th cen- tury B.C., and the Cimbri and Cymry, whose ethnic and nominal identity cannot be doubted. Considering the migratory character of the Cimmerians and Cim- bri, it is reasonable to suppose that they had the same origin. In the cuneiform inscriptions of Darius Hys- taspes, Gimiri occurs as the Shemitic equivalent of the Arian name Sahi (S«Kat). (Sir H. Kawlinson, in Rawlinson's Herodotus, iii, 150, note 1.) See Gomer.
a. Ashkenaz.- — In a single later mention Ashkenaz occurs, in a confederacy against Babylon, with Ararat, Minni, and Middai (Jer. li, 27, 28). It was therefore a nation in the direction of Armenia.
b. Riphath, written in 1 Chron. i, G, Diphath, does not occur elsewhere in Scripture. It has been com- pared with the Kiphsean Mountains of Greek geogra- phy ; but the statement of Josephus, commenting on this list, that the Paphlagonians were anciently called Riphathajans, is wortli}- of notice {Ant. i, G, 1).
c. Togarmah is mentioned in Ezekiel among the traders with Tyre, after Tarshish, Javan, Tubal, and Meshech, all Japhethites, and befoi'c Dcdan, here prob- ably the country of which the inhabitants, called Do- danim, are classed among the sons of the Japhethite Javan (Ezek. xxvii, 12-15) ; and, in a later place, "the house of Togarmah, of the north quarters," fol- lows Gomer in the list of the army of Gog, prince of Magog (xxxviii, G). These particulars point to a northern people not remote from Greece. Togarmah traded with Tj-re "with horses and horsemen, and mules" (xxvii, 14), Avhence we may suppose these traf- fickers came by haul. All the indications agree very well with the ojjinion that Togarmah ma}'' be con- nected with the Armenians.