Ashkenaz in Wikipedia

In the Bible, Ashkenaz is Gomer's first son, brother of Riphath and Togarmah (Gen. 10:3, 1 Chronicles 1:6), thereby a Japhetic descendant of Noah. A kingdom of Ashkenaz is called together with Ararat and Minni against Babylon (Jer. 51:27). There is a theory that biblical Askhenaz (אשכנז) arose from Ashkūz (אשכוז) (= the Scythians) by an old misread of נ (nun) for ו (vav). Ashkenaz is also regarded as the father of the Scythians, Sarmatians, and other Indo-Aryans, due largely to the use of the name "Ashkuz" (Saka) for the Scythians in Assyrian Akkadian inscriptions. It may also refer to the Phrygians, who according to Homer's Iliad settled around Lake Ascania. In rabbinic literature Ashkenaz is believed to be the ancestor of the Germanic, Scandinavian and Slavic peoples, probably due to the similarity of the names Gomer and German, and the similarity of Ashkenaz to the name of Ask, the first human male in Norse mythology, or Aschanes (Askanius), mythological progenitor of the Saxons (see also: Oisc of Kent). For this reason, Ashkenaz is the Medieval Hebrew name for Germany. Ashkenazi Jews, also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim (Standard Hebrew: sing. אַשְׁכֲּנָזִי, pronounced [ˌaʃkəˈnazi], pl. אַשְׁכֲּנָזִים [ˌaʃkəˈnazim] (this 'z' is pronounced as in English "zip", not German-fashion as "ts"); also יְהוּדֵי אַשְׁכֲּנָז Yehudei Ashkenaz, "the Jews of Ashkenaz"), are descended from the medieval Jewish communities of the Rhineland.