Ashkenaz

Ashkenaz was a grandson of Japheth and son of Gomer, listed in the Table of Nations as the ancestor of a northern people (Genesis 10:3; 1 Chronicles 1:6). He is usually identified with the Ashkuza or Scythians mentioned in Assyrian records—nomadic Indo-European peoples who swept into the Near East from the north during the 7th century BC. In Jeremiah 51:27, Ashkenaz appears alongside Ararat and Minni as kingdoms summoned against Babylon. In medieval Jewish geography, Ashkenaz came to designate Germany, and subsequently 'Ashkenazi' became the term for Jews of northern and eastern European heritage.