Yankee - Wikipedia

The meaning of Yankee has varied over time. Its earliest usage was in the 17th century, in New Netherland.[8][9] In the 18th century, it referred to residents of New England.[10] As early as the 1770s, British people applied the term to any person from the United States, and was often derogatory.[11][12]

In the 19th century, Americans in the southern United States employed the word in reference to Americans from the northern United States.[11][10] Historically, it has also been used to distinguish American-born Protestants from later immigrants, such as Catholics of Irish descent.[13][14]

New Netherland origin

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The term Yankee is attested as early as 1683.[9] It likely derives from the Dutch name Janke (lit. 'Little John'), which was popular across New Netherland during the 17th century.[8][9][15] The Oxford English Dictionary calls this theory "perhaps the most plausible".[16]

Janke was used as both a diminutive form of the Dutch name Jan (Dutch: [jɑn]) and as a surname in its own right.[8][17] After the British replaced the Dutch administration in 1664, it would have been Anglicized as Yankee. Michael Quinion and Patrick Hanks posit that Yankee was therefore "used as a nickname for a Dutch-speaking American in colonial times".[8]

Alternatively, the Online Etymology Dictionary suggests that Yankee may be derived from Jan Kees or Jan Kaas (lit. 'John Cheese'), originally a derogatory Flemish nickname for the Dutch.[9][18] The Dutch settlers of New Amsterdam may have used this as a disparaging term for the English colonists in Connecticut.[9]

New England use

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Dutch colonists in New Amsterdam may have been the first to call New Englanders—specifically English colonists in Connecticut—Yankees.[9][19][20] In 1758, British General James Wolfe also negatively referred to New England soldiers under his command as Yankees.[12][21]

The term was not used by New Englanders themselves until 1775.[16][21] According to Merriam-Webster, New Englanders began to use the term as a self-descriptor after their successes in the battles of Lexington and Concord.[21]

Rejected etymologies

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Many etymologies have been suggested for the word Yankee, but modern linguists generally reject theories that suggest it originated in any Indigenous languages.[19] This includes a theory put forth by a British officer in 1789, who said that it was derived from the Cherokee word eankke meaning "coward"—despite the fact that no such word existed in the Cherokee language.[19] Another theory surmised that the word was borrowed from the Wyandot pronunciation of the French l'anglais, meaning "the Englishman" or "the English language", which was sounded as Y'an-gee.[19][22]

American musicologist Oscar Sonneck debunked a romanticized false etymology in his 1909 work Report on "The Star-Spangled Banner", "Hail Columbia", "America", "Yankee Doodle". He cited a popular theory that the word came from a tribe called the Yankoos (said to mean "invincible") who were defeated by New Englanders, and transferred their name to the victors as part of an "Indian custom". Sonneck found no evidence such a tradition existed, nor had any settlers ever adopted an Indian name to describe themselves, and concluded there was never a tribe called the Yankoos.[23]