Mandaean Phenotypic Variation Thread

[Genn]

Guess I'll bump this with a question...

The Harappa project has a couple of Iraqi Mandaean participants and their genetic distances when compared to Iraqi and Iranian Jews are closer to the latter.

Mandaean 1:

 [2,] "iranian-jew_behar_4"      "2.7626"
 [3,] "assyrian_harappa_6"       "4.0338"
 [4,] "iraq-jew_behar_10"        "4.0589"


Mandaean 2:

 [2,] "iranian-jew_behar_4"      "3.5788" 
 [3,] "iraq-jew_behar_10"        "4.4963"

Any idea why this might be? I don't know enough about the three populations to even begin to speculate. Of course the difference in distance isn't much, but I naturally thought they'd be closer to Iraqi Jews.

[aherne]

They look Mesopotamian-Semitic mix, like all other Arabs from the region...

[Elms]

They look Mesopotamian-Semitic mix, like all other Arabs from the region...

No, they look Mesoptamian-Iranian. They are not Arabs and Semitic is a language family.

[Sikeliot]

I see some Iranic influence but not too much.

[aherne]

No, they look Mesoptamian-Iranian. They are not Arabs and Semitic is a language family.

They absolutely do NOT look Iranian, not even as individuals. In Iran they would automatically be identified (CORRECTLY) as Arabs from Khuzestan. Their home language is Arab and look identical to other Arabs. Semitic is both a language family and a race.

[Elms]

They absolutely do NOT look Iranian, not even as individuals. In Iran they would automatically be identified (CORRECTLY) as Arabs from Khuzestan. Their home language is Arab and look identical to other Arabs. Semitic is both a language family and a race.

They have some Iranian influence. They are NOT Arabs. Their language up until recently was Mandaic, a dialect of Aramaic. They look nothing like Arabs, except maybe some Levantines and Northern/Central Iraqi Arabs. Semitic is not a race.

Use Middle Easterner, West Asian, Levantine, Anatolian, Arabian, or Jew to actually be specific with what you mean.

[Smeagol]

They have some Iranian influence. They are NOT Arabs. Their language up until recently was Mandaic, a dialect of Aramaic. They look nothing like Arabs, except maybe some Levantines and Northern/Central Iraqi Arabs. Semitic is not a race.

Levantines, and Iraqi Arabs also have a lot of Semitic influence, and Semitic is a race, but these people are obviously no pure Semites.

[Elms]

Levantines, and Iraqi Arabs also have a lot of Semitic influence, and Semitic is a race, but these people are obviously no pure Semites.

Semitic is not a race. Why the hell would you use an incorrect biblical term to define people. Say Arabian if that's what you mean.

In Genesis 10:21–31, Shem is described as the father of Aram, Ashur, and Arpachshad: the Biblical ancestors of the Arabs, Aramaeans, Assyrians, Babylonians, Chaldeans, Sabaeans, and Hebrews, etc., all of whose languages are closely related; the language family containing them was therefore named "Semitic" by linguists.
The Canaanites, Amalekites and Amorites also spoke languages very closely related to Hebrew and attested in writing earlier, and are therefore termed Semitic in linguistics, despite being described in Genesis as sons of Ham. Shem is also described in Genesis as the father of Elam and Lud (Lydians). However, in reality, the Elamites were not Semitic and spoke a language isolate, while the Lydians spoke an Indo-European language.[3] Equally, the Hittites are described as sons of Ham, but in actuality they too spoke an Indo-European language, while their Hattian predecessors spoke a language isolate.

Do you not see how it is incorrect?

[Smeagol]

Semitic is not a race. Why the hell would you use an incorrect biblical term to define people. Say Arabian if that's what you mean.

Yes, Semite could also be called ''Arabid'', and Arabid was the original type of the Semites.

[7eleven]

My girlfriend is Mandaean from Iran