what is the origin of the terms 'yank' or 'yankee' ?

Answer 1

The origins of the term are disputed. One theory claims that it originated in the 1760s from an English rendering of the Dutch language "Jan-Kees" (two of the most common given names of the Dutch), a nickname used by Dutch settlers in upstate New York referring to the New Englanders who were migrating to their region. (See Martin Van Buren.) The word may also be derived from "yancey", the word many Native American tribes used to refer to Whites during the early colonial period. The first recorded use of the term by an Englishman to refer to Americans appears in the 1780s, in a letter by Admiral Lord Nelson.

There are several other folk and humorous etymologies for the word.


Loyalist newspaper cartoon from Boston 1776 ridicules "Yankie Doodles" militia who have encircled the city (click to read text)One influence on the use of the term throughout the years has been the song Yankee Doodle, which was popular at the time of the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783). Though the British intended to insult the colonials with the song, following the Battle of Concord, it was adopted by Americans as a proud retort and today is the state song of Connecticut.

Answer 2

The origin of Yankee has been the subject of much debate and still not a lot of people agree on one origin; but 2 of the most likely sources are the Dutch name Janke, meaning “little Jan” or “little John,” a nickname that dates back to the 1680s. Or, from Jan Kees (or Jan Kaas), 'John Cheese', also a nickname for the Dutch.
Perhaps because it was used as the name of pirates, the name Yankee came to be used as a term of contempt.
It was used this way in the 1750s by General James Wolfe, the British general who secured British domination of North America by defeating the French at Quebec. The name may have been applied to New Englanders as an extension of an original use referring to Dutch settlers living along the Hudson River. Whatever the reason, Yankee is first recorded in 1765 as a name for an inhabitant of New England.
The first recorded use of the term by the British to refer to Americans in general appears in the 1780s, in a letter by Lord Horatio Nelson. Around the same time it began to be abbreviated to Yank.
During the American Revolution, American soldiers adopted this term of derision as a term of national pride. The derisive use nonetheless remained alive and was even stronger in the South during the Civil War, when it referred not to all Americans but specifically to those loyal to the Union.

Answer 3

The origins of "Yankee" have been fiercely debated throughout the history of the Republic, and to this day the Oxford English Dictionary says the source of the word is "unascertained." Perhaps the most widely accepted explanation was advanced by H.L. Mencken, the well-known newsman-scholar (and don't tell me that isn't an unusual combination), who argued that Yankee derives from the expression Jan Kaas, literally "John Cheese." This supposedly was a derogatory nickname bestowed on the Dutch by the Germans and the Flemish in the 1600s. (Wisconsin cheeseheads can undoubtedly relate.)

The English later applied the term to Dutch pirates, and later still Dutch settlers in New York applied it to English settlers in Connecticut, who were known for their piratical trading practices. During the French and Indian War the British general James Wolfe took to referring derisively to the native New Englanders in his army as Yankees, and the term was widely popularized during the Revolutionary War by the song "Yankee Doodle." By the war's end, of course, the colonists had perversely adopted the term as their own. Southerners used Yankee pejoratively to describe Northerners during the Civil War, but found themselves, along with all other Americans, called thus by the English during world wars I and II.

The alternative explanations--Mencken lists 16 of them--are that Yankee derives from various Indian languages, or from Scottish, Swedish, Persian, etc. James Fenimore Cooper claimed that Yankee resulted from a fractured attempt by the Indians to pronounce the word "English." But most others think Cooper was about as good an etymologist as he was a novelist.

Answer 4

The term 'Yankee' is used to describe Americans-it was also used during the American Civil by southern soldiers to refer to soldiers from the north.

Answer 5

War time 2nd world war over here

Answer 6

america

Answer 7

wow that was interesting! :-) the answer above!