Ashkenaz (ăsh'kēnăz") [key], eponym of a people perhaps localized in Armenia. He was grandson of Japheth. Gen. 10.3. Ashchenaz: 1 Chron. 1.6; Jer. 51.27. In modern times the term Ashkenazim. refers to the German Jews as distinguished from the Sephardim, the Jews of Spain and Portugal. For the history of the Ashkenazim, see Jews.
