Shem as a subset of the Afro-Asiatic languages, denoting the common linguistic heritage of Arabic, Aramaic, Akkadian, Ethiopic, Hebrew and Canaanite-Phoenician languages. The following family tree contains information from the Hebrew Bible, without data from any other sources. According to Luke 3, an additional figure named Cainan is the son of Arpachshad and the father of Shelah. Shem Shem (; "Shem";) was one of the sons of Noah in the Hebrew Bible as well as in Islamic literature. The children of Shem were Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud and Aram, in addition to daughters. Abraham, the patriarch of the Hebrews and Arabs,
Ethnic groups in Europe Japheth from early times, corresponding to the division of the known world into three continents, the descendants of Shem peopling Asia and those of Ham peopling Africa. Identification of Europeans as "Japhetites" is also reflected in early suggestions for terming the Indo-European languages "Japhetic". In this tradition, the "Historia Brittonum" (9th century) introduces a genealogy of the peoples of the Migration period (as it was remembered in early medieval historiography) as follows, The text goes then on to list the genealogy of Alanus, connecting him to Japheth via eighteen generations. European culture is largely rooted in what is often referred